Alfred Fils Métélus, Minister of Economy and Finance, held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry on the preparation of the 2025-2025 budget.

After his introductory remarks and background, it was the turn of Jean Michel Silin, Director General of the Budget, to present the main points of the draft budget and the progress made.

Furthermore, regarding the question raised by the Minister regarding the forecast level of domestic resources determined and allocated to tax collection agencies, the Directorate General of the Budget provided some answers, highlighting two main justifications :

First, to maintain the same level of tax pressure as that observed during the current fiscal year (4.40%), the forecast should have been 248 billion gourdes. However, in a more prudent and realistic approach, this amount was reduced to 240 billion gourdes, which corresponds to a tax pressure of 4.30%.

Second, in order to maintain the same level of funding for projects financed by the Public Treasury and meet the annualization requirements for debit cards issued by the Ministry of National Education and the Haitian National Police, additional funds of approximately 18 billion gourdes must be allocated to these sectors. This allocation also aims to cover the needs related to the permanent appointment of new teachers and the support of two new police officer classes for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

The Chief Economist of the Economic Research Directorate, Romel Troissou, presented the priority matrix developed taking into account the seven areas defined in the draft framework letter: Security, Elections, Economy, Social Affairs, Governance, Public Finance, and Territories.

The Minister suggested enriching the matrix by adding two additional columns : the estimated cost of the identified actions and funding sources, in addition to the sections already included (priority actions, indicators, managers, deadlines, performance monitoring, and follow-up structures).

Furthermore, he recommended organizing working meetings with the relevant sectors as soon as possible to promote better adoption of this tool, ensure its effective use, ensure rigorous monitoring, and ultimately achieve the expected results.

Finally, the Minister requested, among other things, the renewal of the legal provisions of the 2024–2025 budget, the review of measures relating to vehicle movement, and the conduct of an in-depth study of current tax provisions, particularly the Turnover Tax (TCA) applied to rental vehicles. Consumer goods sold on credit, etc...

He also recommended analyzing the impact of the lack of distribution of Professional Identification Cards (CIP) in provincial towns, a situation that hinders the efficient execution of public spending.

HL/ HaitiLibre