LAURENT LAMOTHE VISITS THE MALPASSE BORDER
(Haiti Libre) -
Prime Minister, Laurent Lamothe, visited Friday, the customs office in Malpasse, at the Haitian-Dominican border, to inquire personally about the conditions under which tax collections are carried out, and at the same time consider ways to improve them.
Accompanied among others by the Minister of Economy and Finance, the Director of General Administration of Customs, and the Director General of the National Police of Haiti, the Head of Government noted the necessity for a veritable mobilization in favor of the increase in customs revenue.
In this sense, the Prime Minister is considering the recruitment of new agents in the area of Fonds Parisien and their integration or assignment into the office at Malpasse to facilitate proximity and the professionalisation of this public service.
Laurent Lamothe also believes that the improvement of working conditions for civil servants and the modernization of physical infrastructure can promote a better performance of customs services. Also, existing infrastructure will be subject to review and adjustment based on the requirements of the border environment.
The Head of Government argues in favor of a more rational management of the border to allow the state to earn more money. "It would take a coordinated management of the border," he declared. The lack of cooperation between the Customs Service of Immigration and Emigration, and the Police, weakens the public capacity in the area, making possible all the excesses and the prosper of trafficking.
Despite a significant increase in the flow of goods in 2011-2012, customs revenue in Malpasse has dropped significantly compared to 2010-2011, when it was represented between 180 to 200 million gourdes every month. Now in 2011-2012 it represents only 120 million gourdes every month...
The Prime Minister's visit to the customs office of Malpasse reflects his desire to continue his crusade against smuggling, corruption and fraud that are major obstacles to the development of Haiti.
Wednesday at the 3rd Council of Government, Laurent Lamothe stated that "The free border is finished". Pointing to the binational markets the Prime Minister declared: "We must correct this problem, we can not continue to make the wrong decision to open the border during 2 days of 5 working days." For his part Wilson Laleau, the Minister of Commerce, explained that it was "a free market that is made in one direction", and stated that "the creation of jobs in Haiti goes through the protection of our industries and our businesses [...] The border control is the first big decision if you want to create jobs."
The strengthening of a regulatory framework on border markets, undoubtedly will cause some tensions with our Dominican neighbors, who however, will have trouble to oppose the will of the Haitian Government and the legitimacy of these measures, given the economic situation of Haiti.
Some observers believe that this new policy, outside of increasing tax revenues, will not cause a big change in trade relations between the two countries, except that the new taxes, will contribute to higher prices in Haiti and will have little impact on the neighboring Dominican Republic. Haiti does not export much to that country.
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