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Haiti Foreign Debt
The nation's foreign debt was modest and manageable, in
contrast to the foreign debts of neighboring countries.
Total
external debt was estimated at US$800 million in 1989;
furthermore, the terms of Haiti's foreign debt--interest
rates,
maturity of loans, and grace periods--were extremely
favorable.
Nevertheless, the country's foreign debt doubled during
the
1980s, and its debt-service payments, as a percentage of
exports,
increased from 6 percent to more than 15 percent. New
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank lending
during
the decade boosted the share of national debt owed to
multilateral organizations from 67 percent in 1983 to 74
percent
by 1987. Bilateral agencies held 18 percent of the foreign
debt,
and private banks were responsible for the remaining 8
percent.
The government of the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany)
had canceled a small bilateral debt owed by Haiti in 1985,
and
the Haitian government generally kept up payments to its
other
creditors. As of 1989, Haiti had not rescheduled its
foreign
debt.
Data as of December 1989
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