On the airwaves of radio Magik9, economist Kesner Pharel was invited on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, to dissect the national budget which has an envelope of 401 billion gourdes for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. While the increase in the budget may seem impressive to many, the head of Group Croissance demonstrated that it is a meager budget, insufficient to meet the needs of the population, compared to that of Jamaica or the Dominican Republic.

“In reality, the national budget of 401 billion gourdes represents, when dividing the total amount by the reference exchange rate which is 130 gourdes, only 3.1 billion US dollars. Jamaica, a country of three million inhabitants, has a budget of 8 billion US dollars. The Dominican Republic, with which we share the island and similar demographic characteristics, has submitted a budget of 34 billion US dollars to the Dominican Congress,” Mr. Pharel explained.