COUNTRY PROFILE
Total land area:........................ 27,560 sq. km.
Official language:..................... French
Administrative divisions:........... Nine departments
Legal system:........................... Based on Roman civil
law; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction.
Executive branch:..................... President is chief of
state, prime minister is head of
government. Cabinet is chosen by the prime minister in
consultation with the president.
Legislative branch:.................... Bicameral National Assemblee
Nationale consisting of
a Senate (27 seats; members serve six-year terms,
one-third elected every two years) and Chamber of
Deputies (83 seats; members elected by popular vote to
serve four-year terms).
Judicial branch:........................ Court of Appeals
ECONOMIC PROFILE
Currency: Gourde (G)
GDP: US$1.6 billion (1997)
GDP (average annual growth rate): -3.0 (1988-1997)
GDP per capita (1990 US$): 213.9 (1997)
Consumer price index (average annual growth rate): 16.1% (1997)
Nonfinancial public sector fiscal balance (% of current GDP): -0.7
(1997)
Money supply (M1) (% of current GDP): 11.5 (1997)
Current account balance: -US$0.0858 billion
Trade balance: -US$0.3195 billion (1997)
Main exports: Light manufactures, coffee, agriculture.
Main imports: Machines and manufactures, food and beverages, petroleum
products, chemicals, fats and oils.
Nominal exchange rate (G/US$): 16.5075 (August 1998)
Real effective exchange rate (Index 1990=100): 85.0 (1997)
BANKING SYSTEM
Total number of banks in the system: 14
Types of banks: 12 commercial, 2 savings and loan
Total amount of assets: US$1.07 billion (as of August 31, 1998)
Total amount of deposits: US$903 million (as of August 31, 1998)
Total amount of capital or net worth: US$ 63.6 million (as of August
31, 1998)
BANKING INSTITUTIONS
I. Banking Supervision
1. The Banking Supervision
Department of the Banque de la Republique D¹Haiti
is responsible for bank supervision.
2. The Banque de la
Republique D¹Haiti is an independent agency.
3. The Banque de la
Republique D¹Haiti reports to the legislative and judiciary
branches (Cour Superieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif).
4. Examinations take
place every other year. The Banking Supervision Department
is considering shortening examination intervals to every 18 months.
5. The examination
ratings and criteria used to conduct bank examinations are
as follows:
Category
Definition
Criteria
E
High risk
Unsound
M
Moderate
Moderate
F
Weak
Satisfactory
6. Bank examinations
are conducted using the CAMEL system. This system is used
simply as a guide to evaluate risk factors. It is not used as a ratings
system.
II. Consolidated Supervision
1. Haiti does not
perform comprehensive supervision on a consolidated basis at the
present time, although such supervision is planned for the future.
2. Prior consent is
required from Haiti to open or close a banking establishment in
a foreign country.
3. Prior consent is
required from Haiti to open or close a foreign banking establishment
in the country.
4. There is no regulation
concerning the gathering of information from cross-border
banking establishments.
III. Interest Rates
1. Interest rates
on loans are determined by the market.
2. Interest rates
on deposits are determined by the market.
IV. Deposit Insurance
1. Haiti has no deposit
insurance.
2. Insurance limits
are not applicable.
V. Trade Finance
1. Haiti has no definition
of trade finance.
2. When dealing with
export, import, pre-export, working capital and capital goods
finance, letters of credit, acceptances and drafts, the risk is fully borne
by banks.
3. In cases of bank
liquidation trade finance vehicles are treated similar to domestic
operations.
4. The banking system
does not make specific provisions or require reserves for
treatment of trade finance obligations during bank liquidations.
VI. Capital Adequacy
1. The minimum
capital required to open a bank is five million gourdes.
2. The minimum
capital required to operate a bank is 5% of total liability (balance sheet
and off-balance sheet items).3 Capital adequacy is measured as follows:
Categories
Percentages
WC
>5%
AC
5%
W
<5%
Haiti is
in the process of phasing out the ratios mentioned above and implementing
the
ratios
called for by Basle.
VII. Asset Quality
1. Loan portfolios
are classified as follows:
Loan classification
Definition
% of reserves
C
("Courant")
Current
-
AS ("Asigaler")
Special mention
1.5%
F
("Faible")
Weak
10%
D
("Douteux")
Doubtful
25%
P
("Pertes")
Losses
50%
2. There are no minimum
reserve requirements on bank assets.
3. The legal lending
limit is 20% of net worth with collateral and 200% of net worth
per related group.
4. Investment portfolios
must be categorized as either hold-to-maturity or
available-for-sale portfolio.
5. The investment
categories are the same as above.
6. The valuation of
the investment portfolio has no effect on the profit and loss
statement, because hold-to-maturity has no reserve but available-for-sale
affects the
equity account. The quality of the available-for-sale portfolio is measured
by
comparing the book value with the market value. Only depreciation affects
the
equity account.
VIII. Liabilities
1. The minimum reserve requirements on bank liabilities are as follows:
LIABILITIES MINIMUM RESERVE REQUIREMENT CALCULATION
Demand deposits
26.5%
Time deposits
26.5%
Short-term borrowing
26.5%
Long-term borrowing
26.5%
Deposits in local currency 26.5%
Deposits in foreign currency 12.5%
Others
15%
2. Demand, savings
and time deposits are offered in either domestic or U.S. currency.
3. There is no applicable
limit for deposits.
4. There is no applicable
level of concentration for specific types of deposits.