CDB provides funding to help Haitian entrepreneurs
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has announced that it will contribute US$500,000 to give female and male entrepreneurs in Haiti better access to business loan and savings products. The Bank’s funding will specifically focus on underserved and unserved micro, very small and small enterprises (MSEs) on the island.
In Haiti, few financial institutions cater to the needs of the country’s MSEs, whose average financing needs range from US$6,000 to US$23,000. Overall, these businesses face an aggregate financing gap of US$1.9 billion.
The Bank’s contribution will be made through the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The funds will be used to establish a specialised MSE business financing assessment unit, Centre Financier pour Entrepreneurs (CFE). The unit will be set up within Le Levier, a financial institution that has a network of 43 savings and credit cooperatives across Haiti’s ten departments and 72 branches.
Prosecutor puts former Haiti Officials on travel ban list
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Nine former Haitian electoral officials and 11 Cabinet ministers in former President Michel Martelly’s administration have been forbidden to leave the country.
The order from Prosecutor Danton Leger was issued shortly after the release of a commission’s report calling for the presidential election to be redone due to the appearance of significant electoral fraud.
On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Evans Paul and ministers who served under him confirmed they are on a travel ban list.
Flanked by his lawyer, Paul said that “nobody has the right to take my freedom of movement away.” He and other ex-ministers are seeking to have their names removed.
Justice Minister Camille Junior Edouard says the interim government had nothing to do with the prosecutor’s decision.
Leger did not respond to a request for comment.