Haiti: Banking in 1946  · Global Voices
Alice Backer

From Haiti, Marcel Salnave of Parlons Peu posts an article written by his father, also Marcel Salnave, in 1946 on the Haitian banking system. Excerpt (Fr): “Banks have become very demanding and ask for each loan a guaranty that surpasses the amount borrowed. Banks in Haiti … have completely suppressed our credit. So poverty has taken hold. (…) In the U.S., public opinion is worried by the 3% interest rate and the financial world has had to do its best to bring interest rates down to 2 to 2.5%. Here, it is impossible to borrow money for less than 20% despite the legal rate of 12%. (…) Our credit institutions only rarely give out loans (…). Very few business deals are made thanks to credit institutions. “