Above: Port-au-Prince (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The IMF has lowered its growth forecast for Haiti to 3.4 percent from 6.5 percent, the Fund announced following the visit of a mission to Haiti.

Despite what it called a “relatively strong performance” of non-agricultural sectors, the IMF announced Wednesday that it had lowered its GDP forecast for Haiti, citing a “weak recovery of agricultural production.”

It’s the second year in a row that the IMF significantly altered its projection for Haiti’s GDP after promising projections. Last year’s downgrade was also impacted agriculture, as a series of large-scale storms decimated the country’s crops.

The fund said Haiti’s fiscal position was “still fragile,” as revenue collection and disbursement of official budget support remain “well below projections.”

The IMF mission visited Haiti from May 29 to June 7 for the sixth review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.

“The government of Haiti and the mission reached broad agreement on the main elements of a program for 2013-14 supported by an extension of the current ECF,” said Boileau Loko, head of the IMF mission. “The authorities’ program will continue to focus on preserving macroeconomic stability, supporting economic recovery, and reducing poverty. The budget for 2013-14 will continue to support reconstruction and contain the wage bill so as to provide the flexibility needed to respond to shocks.”

As aid to Haiti from abroad declines, the IMF said the country needed to mobilize additional resources to fund capital expenditure an poverty reduction spending through government revenue collection.

The IMF also urged more efficient management of government expenditures, in part through lower subsidies to Haiti’s EDH utility.