Haiti’s currency exchange rate value fell to 86 gourdes against the American dollar on Tuesday.
The rate marks the gourde’s lowest value since September 2020, when it went through an intense depreciation phase. In the beginning of April, Haiti’s currency value was 80 gourdes against the dollar.
The gourde’s value had reached 120 gourdes against the dollar in mid-August of last year and needed to be appreciated to 62 gourdes in October to repair the economy. At the time, some banks were applying their own rates to make higher profits off their clients, a central bank consultant said then. Source
The adjustment to the value of the HTG last summer was a disaster for every NGO, small and large, doing business in Haiti, which is a large source of revenue. It was even worse for Haitian families depending on remittances from overseas family and friends. Any measure like that should have been introduced gradually, with fair warning, instead of taking everyone by surprise. It likely did more harm than good, as it also affected the revenues of all Haitian export businesses, by driving up their prices and/or severely cutting their profits.
Why we’re not using percentage (%) to calculate the difference between other currencies? That would give other an idea how Haiti economy is measuring to other countries. Let’s the numbers speak!