Economy

Haiti: Money Transfers will be Available in US, says Central Bank

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – The Governor of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), Charles Castel, denies any attempt by the monetary and financial authorities to order the payment transfers in gourdes. He ensures that payments will be made in dollars and rejects any brutal intervention in the system.

Mr. Castel said that Central bank has encouraged homes to provide transfers in better exchange rates for receivers, in an interview with radio and TV Metropole (Port-au-Prince). The aim is to encourage recipients to take out their transfers in gourds themselves. This strategy begins to bear fruit, he adds.

According to a survey by BRH, 75% of transfer receivers convert the amount in gourd. Mr. Castel points out that the majority of funds received from abroad are used to pay rent, school fees and buy food.

The remittances from abroad the monetary raise concerns among Haitian authorities that are struggling to solve the problem of market liquidity. Mr. Castel urges market players to use methods other than cash transaction. He shows that the cash represents 2% of the funds in the United States when it is around 20% in Haiti.

The monetary authorities have announced the commissioning in 2012 of the debit card to facilitate transactions between banks. Meanwhile, the interbank payment service (SPI) introduced 3 years ago must be popularized.

These new tools offer significant benefits to market players. The period of compensation for the Debit Card and the SPI will be reduced to 48 hours.