Money from Haitian Diaspora Transfers Finances Production Efforts in the Dominican Republic

By Jean Venel Casseus

“Money is the sinews of war,” it is frequently said. This phrase, in my view, rests on a persistent confusion between means and the intelligence of action. The true sinews of war, according to my observations, is “Strategic Thinking,” understood as the ability to define an objective, to organize coherent instruments, and to integrate resources into an overall architecture. Money, when it circulates outside a structured framework, produces no lasting effect on reality. It transits, it compensates, it cushions, without transforming. The money transferred daily by the Haitian diaspora to households in Haiti, through services such as Western Union, MoneyGram, and other similar channels, constitutes a concrete and unambiguous manifestation of this reality. Abundant, constant, and carrying deep solidarity, these transfers nevertheless operate in a disorganized economic space that diverts them from any national productive dynamic.

The Paradox of Vital Support Diverted from its National Purpose

Remittances from the Haitian diaspora are among the most stable financial flows in the national economy. They ensure the daily subsistence of millions of households and, in the short term, cushion the social effects of the prolonged production crisis and the erosion of public capacities. Yet, this vital support creates a profound economic contradiction. A significant portion of these resources, far from supporting the Haitian economy, indirectly fuels the productive apparatus of the Dominican Republic. This phenomenon stems from a structural mechanism where the disorganization of local production transforms the social reality of transfers into a driver of external growth.

Diaspora Transfers Between Social Stabilization and Economic Imbalance

According to data from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, remittances to Haiti represent more than 20% (2022) of the gross domestic product, one of the highest levels globally. This source of foreign currency surpasses international aid and export revenues, while maintaining relative stability in the face of internal political turbulence.

Figures from the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics indicate that over 80% (2019) of these transfers are directed towards current consumption: food, housing, health, schooling, energy. This allocation responds to a household survival logic rather than an economic projection. The absence of structures capable of channeling this resource towards investment explains the weak transformation of social support into productive capital.

Productive Decline and Commercial Dependence on the Dominican Economy

The continuous degradation of national agricultural and industrial production has reshaped the structure of domestic demand. Households predominantly consume imported goods from the Dominican Republic, which holds a dominant position in supplying the Haitian market with processed food products, construction materials, manufactured goods, and energy inputs. According to consolidated data from the commercial statistics of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics, the Dominican Republic accounts for approximately 35% (2021) of the total value of Haitian imports.