Reaching the Poor: Some Observations on Formal and Informal Credit in Haiti

• The article traces the evolution of credit to the poor in Haiti, mainly from the 1950s to the present. Two phases may be distinguished. The first one, characterized on the one hand by the dominance of informal lenders and on the other by unsuccessful efforts sponsored by the government to reach the peasant majority, extends from the beginning of the 1950s until the end of the 1970s. This was a period of failure from the point of view of formal credit, with a number of institutions that lent little to the needy and which had to be closed down for financial reasons. The second period, from the beginning of the 1980s to the present time, has seen the evolution of a new institutional framework: that of organized micro credits, mainly in urban areas, beginning in the capital and gradually extending into provincial towns as well. This approach is much more promising than the old one, and possibly it can be extended ito rural areas as well.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Ekonomisk historia (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economic History (hsv//eng)

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