"More than 60% of transfer offices in the country have closed their doors for some time now," stated Renel Pierre, President of the National Union of Transfer Sub-agents of Haiti (UNATAH), in an interview with the newspaper on Wednesday, June 5. The reason for these closures is the lack of liquidity faced by many transfer offices across the country, according to the UNATAH official. "Commercial banks refuse to grant more than 50,000 gourdes to sub-agents, owners of these transfer offices. In some provincial towns, banks limit the withdrawal of sub-agents to 25,000 gourdes per day," he lamented.

This new reality is detrimental not only to the sub-agents of transfer houses but also to the recipients of remittances from the diaspora. Many recipients often resort to paying third parties, including transfer office employees, to avoid waiting in long lines when they want to receive their money. In other cases, recipients accept their transfers in installments because the offices cannot pay the full amount at once.

"I live in Fontamara, a locality with only one transfer office currently. Sometimes, to receive a transfer, I go all the way to Léogâne. In the neighboring town of Carrefour, there are a few transfer offices, but it’s not easy to receive the transfer there because there are too many people," complained a transfer recipient, noting that he often has to go back and forth to various offices for several days before receiving the full payment of a transfer.