Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Haiti inevitable struggle from its long stricken Poverty State
In the Western Hemisphere Haiti is the poorest country and amongst the poorest in developing countries. It is faced with poverty related disasters such as housing, healthcare, nutrition, infant mortality rate and environmental problems (IMF, 2007). These are not natural disasters; they are as result of a class system and economic system which has strived to benefit the minority at the expense of the majority (Lundahi, 2011). These grim conditions were worsened by an earthquake that rocked the country in January, 2010. This paper will seek to determine the reasons why 80% of the population is below poverty levels. In addition it will explore the reasons of Haiti’s heavy reliance on international aid. Finally the paper will also review the impacts of the earthquake on the infrastructure as well as the economy.
Coupled with an earthquake that rocked the country of Haiti in January 2010, Haiti has been is also struggling with corruption in the government levels as well as extreme poverty. There is a strong relationship between poverty and corruption (Lundahi, 2011). Corruption in Haiti has led to many problems ranging to biased tax systems, low economic growth rate, widening disparity between the poor and the rich, low and ineffective social problems, unequal educational access and very low welfare spending by the government (IMF, 2008). Because of all these problems, the international communities have been very slow in offering assistance to Haiti. This is mainly due to the ineffective government structural problems as well as the rampant corruption.
Poor governance, corruption and political instability remain to be the fundamental problems in Haiti. Haiti has recorded a high level of lack of governance and political instability in history (Lundahi, 2011). Decline of the quality levels all public services have occurred due to high levels of misappropriation of public funds. It has recorded poor services from fundamental people’s needs such as the justice systems, the infrastructure and basic police services. However it is important to help restore democracy in this country to realize national progress. In this regard, it is important to address the governance problem which remains to be the core cause of poverty in Haiti (IMF, 2008).
There problem of inadequate levels of private investments and the distortions, happening at the macro-economic levels have resulted to stunted or negative growth. The above mentioned political factors have resulted to harsh negative impacts on development both foreign and domestic (IMF, 2011). It is estimated that the investment GDP ratio is about 10%. This in turn indicates that an annual growth rate of 5% is required to acquire a significant progress in the course of poverty reduction (IMF, 2008). However statistics have indicated that the country has been recording a negative growth rate of about 5% over the years. This grim statistics hence concludes that the prospects of growth rate are almost zero.
Moreover there is the problem of poor quality spending in the government as well as underinvestment of human capital. It is estimated that only 20% of total resources are given to the rural areas where 2/3 of the population live (IMF, 2007). This and all other factors results to the creation of a poverty trap. This so happens because of the high population that is likely to produce a downward trend. The high populated rural areas results to environmental degradation. Poverty in such areas is likely to harbor high levels of violence and crime rates and a general trend of migration to the urban areas in escaping poverty (Lundahi, 2011). All these coupled by low levels of investment and growth, abuse of fundamental human needs and lack of good governance creates a permanent poverty trap in Haiti.
Conclusions
The problems that range from unstable macro-economic sector and discouraged private investments continue to cause distortions in the economy of Haiti. There are low and ineffective activities by government spending that are resulting to negative impacts to the economy of Haiti. Haiti has proven very inefficient in the provision of basic needs and low levels of human capital (IMF, 2008). There is however a great challenge to the Haitian government in increasing its resources to sanitation, water, health and family planning. My recommendation is for the government to leave these services to the NGOs. It is very vital for the government to reestablish effective regulatory bodies in controlling public services. The limited government resources should be directed to the highly populated rural areas where there is a high level of poverty.
References
Lundahi, M. (2011). Poverty in Haiti. New York. Palgrave MacMillan Publishers.
International Monetary Fund, IMF. (2008). Haiti Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Washington D.C. International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund, IMF. (2007). Haiti Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, Washington D.C. International Monetary Fund.