Monetary policy and the economic and financial outlook were on the agenda of the BRH Board of Directors meeting with the press on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
Economic outlook and monetary policy, according to the BRH
Monetary policy and the economic and financial outlook were on the agenda of the BRH Board of Directors meeting with the press on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
Monetary policy and the economic and financial outlook were on the agenda at the meeting between the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Haiti (BRH) and the press on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Regardless of the goodwill and motivation of Haitian officials, economic growth will always require an improvement in the country’s security situation. As for the monetary policy applied by the BRH, it is currently tight and geared towards a difficult balance between combating inflation and creating conditions conducive to growth, according to the BRH governor.
Addressing Haiti’s economic and financial outlook a few weeks before the end of the current fiscal year, the Board of Directors of the BRH believes that, regardless of extrapolation, regardless of the public policy put in place to support the economy financially, the expected results will always be subject to the vagaries of the economic situation and the very restrictive security environment of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
“It is highly unlikely that in such an environment that promising investments will be possible,” said the governor of the BRH, Ronald Gabriel, who added that even with very favorable credit conditions it is very difficult for economic agents to decide to make investments, especially in sectors whose operating areas are exposed to extremely high risks.
This, in fact, explains the high level of unproductivity in the Haitian financial sector, the governor explains. According to him, this level of unproductivity is linked to the fact that some businesses, in relation to the financial system, are located in challenging areas such as the municipalities of Croix-des-Bouquets, Carrefour, etc.
“Everything we can do in terms of anticipating the results of policies to be implemented will be conditional on the evolution of the climate or security constraints,” argues the number of the BRH Council.
A tight monetary policy
Regarding monetary policy, the Board of Directors of the BRH, through its Governor, Ronald Gabriel, advises that, until further notice, the Bank of Banks will maintain a tight monetary policy oriented towards a difficult trade-off between the fight against inflation and the creation of conditions favorable to economic growth.
Economic agents, analysts and economists keep asking themselves: How, in such an atypical way, can the central bank keep its interest rate unchanged while the country is immersed in a rather constraining inflationary current of around 20%?
To this question, the governor replied:
“For the BRH, we believe that the inflation we are currently experiencing is monetary in origin. Thus, there has not yet been a monetary expansion that would justify a change in the interest rate to counter the negative effects that would result from any monetary expansion. Indeed, inflationary pressures stem primarily from the supply shock fueled by disruptions in supply chains, which prevent economic agents from moving from one point in the country to another. This will have a direct impact on relative prices and lead to a rise in inflation.”
“Monetary measures to counter this inflation risk not only missing the mark but also making the situation of debtor companies even more difficult since, with any adjustment of the BRH’s key interest rate, financial and banking institutions make automatic and more than proportional adjustments to the key interest rate. This explains why the central bank remains cautious by keeping key interest rates unchanged.”
Regarding the disinflation process in the Haitian economy that began a few months ago, the Board of the Central Bank of Haiti (BRH), through its governor, has pledged to continue this process, albeit at a slower pace. “However,” according to Ronald Gabriel, “this commitment is contingent on the assumption that the US-Iran conflict will not lead to a rise in the price of a barrel of oil, which could impact domestic prices.”
