After six consecutive years of deepening economic contraction that has left Haiti’s industrial sector on the brink of collapse, the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH) has launched an ambitious 25-year Strategic Industrial Policy Plan (PSPI 2026-2050), developed in close coordination with Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry following extensive input from across the national industrial sector’s key stakeholders.
Decades of systemic stagnation have left Haiti facing cascading structural economic challenges that demand urgent, coordinated intervention, according to data included in the plan. IMF figures show that industrial contribution to Haiti’s gross domestic product (GDP) has plummeted from 18% in the 1980s to just 4.5% in 2026. Nearly 78% of the country’s working-age population is either underemployed or locked out of the formal labor market, while an annual $4 billion trade deficit reflects that Haiti imports more than 80% of its consumer goods. Cumulative inflation over the past six years has surpassed 30%, eroding business working capital before production cycles even conclude, and electricity costs exceed $0.52 per kilowatt-hour—multiple times the regional average—rendering domestic production uncompetitive on the global and even regional stage. Without immediate structural reform, ADIH warns these trends will permanently cripple Haiti’s productive base, eliminate prospects for job growth, and deepen the country’s dangerous dependence on foreign imports.
At its core, the PSPI proposes a landmark National Competitiveness Pact between the Haitian government and the country’s productive sectors, designed to rebuild industrial capacity over 25 years and lay the groundwork for inclusive, sovereign, and sustained long-term growth. The plan’s 2050 vision frames Haiti as a competitive, self-sustaining production economy that generates widespread formal employment, cuts import vulnerability, and consolidates national economic sovereignty.
To turn that vision into measurable progress, the plan sets bold quantitative targets for 2050: the creation of 500,000 new formal industrial jobs (up from the current 150,000), an increase in industrial GDP contribution to 20%, a quadrupling of industrial exports from $1 billion to $4 billion annually, a 30% reduction in the national trade deficit through targeted import substitution, and $250 million in additional annual tax revenue for the Haitian government.
A defining feature of the plan is its break from Haiti’s current industrial incentive model: instead of relying on passive tax breaks tied to corporate profits, ADIH proposes an active incentive framework centered on boosting the competitiveness of core production factors. This model draws on successful development experiences across other Caribbean and emerging economies, rooted in the belief that Haiti has untapped entrepreneurial potential that can only be unlocked with a stable, coherent competitive regulatory environment.
Today, domestic producers remain blocked by overlapping structural barriers: exorbitant energy costs, a tax system ill-suited to support productive investment, tariffs on critical production inputs, prohibitive logistics costs, and limited access to modern manufacturing equipment. ADIH argues that strengthening industrial competitiveness is impossible without coordinated, proactive action from the public sector.
To address these barriers, the plan is organized around six mutually reinforcing strategic pillars, each paired with concrete actionable measures:
1. **Unlocking Domestic Production**: The first pillar targets permanent reductions in production factor costs through stable, predictable duty and tax exemptions for raw materials, industrial equipment, machinery, spare parts, production technology, and energy and storage infrastructure. This full guaranteed exemption is designed to structurally lower production costs and reduce business break-even points, allowing Haitian industries to regain their competitive edge. Under this framework, industrial firms will fulfill all tax obligations, including corporate income tax, only after the state has put in place the infrastructure and conditions needed for them to operate profitably. ADIH frames this shift as a paradigm shift toward productive sovereignty and a roadmap for national economic reconstruction aligned with evolving global trade dynamics.
2. **Prioritizing Energy Security and Affordability**: The second pillar positions affordable energy as the non-negotiable foundation of any credible industrial policy, introducing targeted mechanisms to support productive energy use, incentivize on-site power generation, scale solar photovoltaic energy, and advance public-private partnerships to drive down costs substantially.
3. **Upgrading Critical Production Infrastructure**: The third pillar focuses on expanding and modernizing core industrial infrastructure, including the development of new industrial zones, upgrading logistics and port facilities, and rehabilitating existing assets to streamline supply chains and cut operational lead times.
4. **Investing in Human Capital and Technical Training**: The fourth pillar addresses gaps between workforce skills and industry demand, proposing the creation of sector-specific technical training centers, expansion of apprenticeship programs, and incentives for continuing education to align worker capabilities with industrial needs.
5. **Expanding Access to Capital and Promoting Investment**: The fifth pillar targets persistent financing barriers, calling for the creation of a dedicated Industrial Development Fund, a public loan guarantee system, tailored refinancing mechanisms, and a targeted tax credit for industrial employment.
6. **Strengthening Regional Integration and Global Market Access**: The sixth and final pillar aims to expand export opportunities by fully operationalizing Haiti’s participation in the CARICOM single market, consolidating existing preferential trade arrangements, and establishing a national export promotion agency to open new market channels.
Beyond boosting production, ADIH notes the plan will deliver broad budgetary and macroeconomic benefits for the Haitian state, drawing on global evidence that well-designed competitiveness policies expand the tax base, support formalization of the informal economy, and strengthen long-term public financing capacity. By waiving taxes on production inputs, the state secures a larger share of future profits from growing, profitable firms; only formal, registered businesses can access plan incentives, driving a voluntary transition out of the informal sector; mass formal job creation will boost consumption, increase social security contributions, accelerate monetary circulation, and strengthen social stability; and a competitive industrial sector will create a national multiplier effect, supporting agricultural growth, stimulating the service sector, expanding exports, reducing imports, and strengthening Haiti’s national currency, the gourde, to stabilize the overall economy.
To guarantee rigorous, transparent implementation over its 25-year timeline, the plan establishes a dedicated institutional framework for strategic oversight, technical execution, and public accountability. A new National Industrial Policy Council (CNPI), co-chaired by Haiti’s Prime Minister/Commerce Minister and the ADIH President, will serve as the strategic steering body meeting quarterly. A Permanent Technical Implementation Unit (UTE) will be housed within the Prime Minister’s Office to manage day-to-day execution, and sector-specific committees will be established for each priority industrial area, including agribusiness, construction, textiles, packaging, pharmaceuticals, and renewable energy. A rigorous monitoring and evaluation system will include quarterly performance dashboards, annual reports to Haiti’s Parliament, triennial independent external audits, and a public transparency web portal publishing beneficiary lists, incentive amounts, performance indicators, and meeting minutes.
The plan is rolled out in three phased implementation stages with clear, measurable priorities:
– 2026–2027: Establish the full legal and institutional framework, launch initial tax instruments, and secure $50 million in seed funding. The stage targets 12,000 new jobs and $120 million in new investment, with a total budget of $170 million.
– 2027–2029: Deploy core infrastructure including solar energy projects, new industrial zones, and expanded technical training. The stage targets 90,000 cumulative new jobs, a 40% increase in exports, and industrial GDP contribution rising to 12%, with a total budget of $700 million.
– 2030–2050: Consolidate gains, invest in research and development, and solidify Haiti’s regional competitive position. The final stage targets 500,000 total new jobs, 20% industrial contribution to GDP, and $4 billion in annual exports, with a total combined budget of $1.3 billion.
To build immediate confidence among investors and international development partners, ADIH has identified five high-priority short-term actions to be implemented before the end of 2026–2027: adoption of a national industrial policy decree by summer 2026, establishment of the CNPI and recruitment of the UTE by summer 2026, launch of a 30% tax credit for industrial employment by October 2026, deployment of mobile cargo scanners at ports and border crossings by mid-2027, and establishment of the Industrial Development Fund with an initial $50 million endowment by the first quarter of 2027.
The PSPI 2026-2050 is framed as a comprehensive roadmap to drive economic recovery, transform Haiti’s productive sector, and consolidate national economic sovereignty, providing a structured action framework that aligns public sector efforts and private sector commitment around shared goals of competitiveness, job creation, and investment growth. It is built on a principle of shared responsibility: the state is accountable for creating a pro-production, pro-investment regulatory environment, while the productive sector commits to formalization, job creation, and full tax compliance.
ADIH emphasizes that the long-term success of the plan depends on sustained political will, effective public-private partnership, budgetary discipline aligned with agreed commitments, significant improvements in security across industrial production zones, and gradual mobilization of support from international development partners tied to credible, verifiable results. Ultimately, the plan’s goal goes beyond addressing Haiti’s immediate crisis: it seeks to rebuild the sustainable foundations of a national productive capacity that can support long-term inclusive development for all Haitians.
