Haiti Prime Minister Outlines His Priorities To Parliament

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, March 13, 2017 (CMC) – Prime Minister, Dr. Jack Guy Lafontant, today, said his administration will seek to consolidate public finances, reduce expenditure and ensure sustained economic growth and sustainable development in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

In his general policy statement to Parliament, Lafontant said the effects of the economic and financial crisis continue to affect the global economy and that the current context imposes on all countries, the need to implement “courageous reforms to combat waste and direct resources mainly towards programs to improve the living conditions of citizens”.

He told legislators that while Haiti has seen some progress in the last five years, it remained glued into the category of countries with low human development.

“Efforts will be made by my government to consolidate public finances, reduce the state’s lifestyle and ensure a sustained economic growth and sustainability in our country.

“We have understood the legitimate aspiration of our compatriots to live a better life, to meet their basic needs, to have jobs, to increase their incomes and to live in peace and security. These concrete demands are a legitimate quest for more economic and social progress,” he added.

Lafontant, who was appointed soon as after newly elected President, Jovenel Moise, was sworn into office in February, said that with the assistance of the head of state “we have decided to accelerate our country’s march towards an emerging economy, a rule of law, a solidarity-inclusive society with a renewed public administration”.

He said President Moise has given Haitian citizens a guarantee that the government will continue all the interventions deemed useful “in a logic of continuity, correct the mistakes of the past and show imagination and creativity to innovate in order to bring “together the earth, water, sun, women and men” to improve the collective well-being.

“The fundamental objective is to create a responsible state, capable of organizing the country in order to have citizens educated and guided by the sense of collective solidarity. To achieve this goal, a national consensus on long-term development is needed,” Lafontant said.

He said his policy statement is inspired by the campaign promises of President Moise and is intended to “face the challenges of economic recovery and the structural strengthening of our country, while taking into account the specificities of each department.

“Our generation, as emphasized by the President of the Republic, in the document entitled ‘Measures proposed by President Jovenel Moïse (2017-2022) for the development of Haiti’, must make all the sacrifices necessary to restore to this country its status in the concert of nations: a proud, dignified, prosperous and sovereign Haiti.”

Prime Minister Lafontant said that President Moise was urging the Parliament in “this spirit of unity, which allowed our ancestors to free us from slavery, to take with me the path of development for Haiti at the height of its historical prowess and our legitimate ambitions”.

“I guarantee that the dialogue will be permanent between the three powers of the State, in order to ensure that we make the best choices in terms of prioritization,” he told the legislators.