The International Monetary Fund has granted approval for the second review of Haiti’s Staff-Monitored Program (SMP), simultaneously authorizing a nine-month extension of the initiative through September 2026. This decision comes as the Caribbean nation continues to navigate extreme security challenges, institutional fragility, and significant capacity constraints under the SMP framework—an informal agreement designed to establish policy implementation track records that could eventually qualify Haiti for formal financial assistance.
Haiti’s economic landscape remains profoundly fragile amid relentless domestic and external pressures. Real GDP contracted for the seventh consecutive year in FY2025 as gang violence intensified across the nation, while annual inflation persisted at approximately 32%. Compounding these challenges, three major external factors threaten additional strain: the impending expiration of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the United States in February 2026, the non-renewal of the HOPE/HELP preferential trade agreement that lapsed in September 2025, and Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact in October 2025, which caused substantial loss of life and widespread damage to infrastructure and agricultural areas.
Despite these overwhelming obstacles, program implementation has yielded encouraging results. All quantitative and indicative targets for the end-June test date were successfully met, with monetary financing of the fiscal deficit maintained at zero, social spending reaching programmed targets, and revenue performance staying on track. International reserves continued to accumulate, supported by robust remittance inflows and foreign exchange purchases, reaching nearly US$1.5 billion by end-July 2025.
The extended SMP will focus on preserving macroeconomic stability and reform momentum while allowing political and security conditions to stabilize. Key priorities include advancing governance reforms to address systemic fragility, enhancing revenue mobilization, improving public financial management efficiency, and strengthening the central bank’s policy frameworks. The extension will also enable a more comprehensive assessment of international initiatives, including the UN’s Gang Suppression Force and the OAS’s ‘Haitian Led Roadmap for Recovery and Peace’.
Critical reform areas emphasize transparency and accountability in public financial management, corruption risk mitigation in revenue administration, and ensuring accountability for serious corruption, organized crime, and money laundering. Haitian authorities are additionally encouraged to complete national assessments for money laundering and terrorist financing to support the country’s removal from the FATF grey list.
The IMF emphasized that despite these domestic efforts, Haiti continues to require substantial international financial support—preferably in grant form rather than non-concessional loans—to address immediate humanitarian, social, and economic needs while preserving debt sustainability. Grant financing is deemed essential for placing Haiti’s economy on a steady and sustainable growth trajectory that could ultimately improve living conditions for its citizens.