According to the World Bank (WB), 80% of businesses in Haiti do not have access to credit. Economic growth being based on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and in view of this, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank and the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), want in consultation with the private sector, creating a market for leasing, which according to them is a tool that can enable Haitian SMEs to develop their economic activities more quickly.

Let us recall that leasing is the simplest way for an entrepreneur immediately dispose of equipment and to pay it in the form of a rent with a possibility of purchase if desired at the end of the lease or to renew this equipment by a new one, with a new lease.

An IFC study on the introduction of leasing in Haiti, carried out in 2010, estimated the potential of the leasing market after 3 years to more than US $ 150 million. According to the BRH, this new product will contribute to the development of the financial market to the increase in SME credit and the economic growth of the country "In search of ways to increase credit and stimulate investment, while advising the competition in the financial services sector, BRH considered it appropriate to promote this formula that is particularly adapted to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," said Jean Baden Dubois, Governor of the BRH.

For Evelyn Awittor, World Bank Administrator in Haiti, for an entrepreneur "access to a lease is often the difference between seizing the opportunity or missing the check mark", recalling that in developed economies, leasing accounts for between 15 and 25% of the total financing of SME equipment.

However, for financial institutions to develop leasing in Haiti, it is imperative to have a legal environment. To this end, a draft bill for the regulation of leasing has already been tabled in Parliament

Youri Latortue, President of the Senate and of the National Assembly, pledged to persuade elected officials to vote all leasing laws. "[...] to strengthen the business environment, accelerate progress and remove obstacles to credit [...]"

PI/ HaitiLibre