Haiti Place Keeping remittances flowing to Haiti

News Information

  • NEWS_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place
  • NEWS_POSTED_ON: Dec 23, 2015
  • Views : 808
  • Category : General News
  • Description : IDB
    Webstories
    Jan 28, 2010

    The earthquake forced banks to shut their doors, but the money kept coming, thanks to a major effort involving the IDB’s MIF, Fonkoze and the U.S. government.
  • Location : Washington, DC, United States
  • Phone : (202) 623-2572
  • Email : paulc@iadb.org
  • Website : http://www.iadb.org/en/news/webstories/2010-01-28/keeping-remittances-flowing-to-haiti,6481.html

Overview

  • Lucy Conger (*)

    For the Haitians who lost everything after the Jan. 12 earthquake, they needed the basics: Food, water and shelter.

    They also needed money.

    The story about getting remittances that Haitians in the United States were sending to their relatives in Haiti includes a heroic feat by Fonkoze—an alternative bank for the poor that specializes in micropayments— negotiations deep into the night and cash drops by U.S. soldiers.

    To guarantee the flow of funds, Fonkoze relied on the logistical and management support of the MIF—the IDB Group’s Multilateral Investment Fund—and the U.S. government, acting through the State Department, the Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Armed Forces. The result was the delivery of funds to 34 remote villages in Haiti so that Fonkoze, the country’s third-largest remittance operator, could make good on remittance payments to the poor.

    Remittances are central to life in Haiti. The money that Haitians abroad send to their families every year is equivalent to 26 percent of the country’s GDP, or about $1.5 billion, according to MIF figures. More than a third of the country´s adults receive regular remittance payments, mostly from the United States. This money flows to more than a million individuals with annual incomes below $500.

    The earthquake made these funds even more critical. Fonkoze’s participation in delivering the remittances is especially important because its services reach rural areas.

    Read more here >>