Press Release No. 24/79

IMF Management Approves an Extension of the Staff Monitored-Program with Haiti and the Modification of the Performance Criteria

March 8, 2024

• Management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a nine-month extension of the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) with Haiti covering the period through September 2024 to help the country establish a solid track record of policy implementation.
• This SMP focuses on strengthening governance, fighting corruption, enhancing transparency and accountability in the use of public spending, including through data transparency to help ensure public funds are used appropriately.

Washington, DC: Management of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on December 21, 2023, an extension of the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) with Haiti through September 30, 2024.

Building on progress achieved under the previous SMP which ended in May 2023, management had approved a new Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) in June 2023, originally for a nine-month period spanning from June 30 2023 through March 31, 2024, which now has been extended through September 2024. In the original letter of intent (LOI) in June 2023, the authorities had already envisaged the possibility to request an extension if circumstances required to allow to establish a solid track record of policy implementation.

This current SMP focuses on strengthening governance, fighting corruption, enhancing transparency and accountability in the use of public spending, including through data transparency to help ensure public funds are used appropriately—all to support the authorities’ efforts to raise inclusive growth.

As a result of the extension, new quantitative targets and additional structural conditionality were added and will be monitored through a Third Review (in addition to First and Second reviews already envisaged) with test date at the end of June 2024. These modifications are essential to continue to deliver on the aforementioned SMP objectives.

The new additional benchmarks entail the publication of the IMF governance diagnostics report and an associated action plan agreed by the authorities; the provision of more granular monetary data, including detailed information on government deposits at the central bank; the publication of core macroeconomic and financial indicators according to timeliness and periodicity of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS); and the publication of the upcoming annual audit of the central bank for FY2023, undertook, as usual practice, by an independent international audit firm.

Management also approved the modification of quantitative targets from December 2023. The modification was warranted given the deterioration of the outlook relative to June 2023.

The authorities had agreed to start holding the 2024 Article IV consultation discussions remotely in February 2024, which are currently ongoing. An updated Country Engagement Strategy will be prepared in that context, including to enhance collaboration with development partners in line with the Fund Strategy for Fragile and Conflict-Affected States, particularly given the critical role of development partners on capacity development and financing.