Haiti - FLASH : The Government could not pay its civil servants in May
Ronald Décembre, Minister of Economy and Finance revealed that the revenue losses for the Treasury in June amounted to more than 51 billion gourdes. According to the Minister Décembre, 80 billion gourdes should have been collected from September to June (according to initial forecasts), but because of protests and strikes at the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI) and Customs, only 45,2 billion gourdes were collected, 35 billion less than expected, to which must be added 16 billion gourdes, losses of oil resources, because of the fuel price subsidy totaling just over 51 billion in revenues in months...
He confirms that for lack of sufficient financial resources, it was impossible to pay the salaries of employees of the public sector in May, promising that the wages of May will be paid in June with a month late... as for those of June, no precision...
Moreover, Décembre recognizes that the State is unable to repay for the moment, billions of subsidies advanced by oil companies (a debt of 16 billion), a situation all the more worrying that oil companies must find money to continue supplying the market with less and less cash. However, the Minister assures that a compromise has been found with the oil companies (without further details) to meet the needs of the market and avoid a break in supply, but without specifying how long will hold this compromise before the shortage...
Finally, the Minister recognizes "We have a serious underperformance in terms of revenues. In the initial forecasts, we projected revenues around 114 billion gourdes. At each event, we are obliged to review the forecast. Of 114 billion gourdes, revenue forecasts have risen successively to 93.8 billion, 85 billion and 75 billion", without however mention how the Government intends to deal with this situation, especially for oil revenues while the State fears new riots if it takes the decision to raise prices at the pump. Meanwhile, the State is sinking into an endless deficit chasm...
