ZCZC
BCN-08
HAITI-ECONOMY-FUEL-SHORTAGE
Worsening fuel shortage in impoverished Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Haiti’s long-suffering population
has faced an extra burden for more than a week: closed service stations and
lines of motorists hoping to buy even a few drops of petrol during a fuel
shortage that’s getting worse.
From the capital Port-au-Prince to smaller towns around the Caribbean
country, car drivers and motorcyclists wait in line at the few gas stations
still selling fuel, albeit at rising prices.
Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries which has faced months of
political turmoil.
“I have been in this never-ending line for hours,” a driver of one of
Port-au-Prince’s ubiquitous motorbike taxis complained. “When the service
stations aren’t closed, those that are still selling gasoline are doing it
drop by drop.”
The president of the National Association of Petroleum Product
Distributors, David Turnier, confirmed to AFP that “there is a scarcity of
petroleum products in the local market.”
A gallon (3.8 litres) of gasoline which normally sells for about 224
gourdes ($2.33) has more than doubled to 500 gourdes ($5.20) in some areas.
A source close to a prominent petroleum product importing company told AFP
there is a cash flow problem.
“The Haitian state does not have the economic means to pay its debts to
the companies that import gasoline to the country,” the source said on the
condition of anonymity. “And for us, when we don’t have money, we can’t place
orders.”
Venezuela’s PetroCaribe program, plagued by allegations of corruption but
which had allowed Haiti to buy petroleum products more cheaply and on credit,
has been suspended for more than a year because of deteriorating relations
between Venezuela and the United States.
Hurricane Dorian, passing through the Caribbean this week, also delayed
petroleum deliveries.
In May, judges of the High Court of Auditors said in a voluminous report
that President Jovenel Moise was at the center of an “embezzlement scheme”
that had siphoned off Venezuelan aid money intended for road repairs.
At least seven Haitians died during protests in February that led to the
fall of the government.
Moise in July named Fritz-William Michel as prime minister, his fourth
head of government in two and a half years.
Three-fifths of Haiti’s population of nearly 11 million live below the
poverty line of $2 a day.
BSS/AFP/HR/0930