Responding to an invitation from the UNDP for its weekly program titled “Wi Ayiti Kapab,” hosted last week by Xavier Michon, UNDP Representative in Haiti, economist Pierre-Marie Boisson highlighted the role of inflation in Haiti’s economic situation. He also took the opportunity to explain that GDP cannot be considered the perfect instrument for measuring Haitian growth because, unlike in many other countries, Haitians’ purchasing power does not stem from a national strategy but rather from an external windfall: unilateral transfers.

Haiti receives an average of two million one hundred thousand (2,100,000) transfers per month through the officially recorded money-transfer companies operating in the country, said economist and Sogesol CEO Pierre-Marie Boisson, speaking at the UNDP’s weekly program titled “Wi, Ayiti Kapab.” These transfers guarantee a certain level of purchasing power to 80% of Haitians who regularly benefit from this windfall.