Haiti is the poorest country in the Latin America and Caribbean region and among the poorest in the world. Weak economic governance is a particularly serious obstacle to economic growth and poverty reduction in Haiti.

The EGRO helped the government to improve the allocation, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure, improve transparency and accountability in the public sector and increase the country's absorption capacity for external resources.

Highlights:
- Improved macroeconomic stability: Haiti achieved positive economic growth of 1.8 percent in FY2005 and 2.3 percent in FY2006. Central government overall deficit (including grants) was reduced from 3.5 percent of GDP in FY2003 to 1.2 percent in FY2006 thanks to increased revenues and tighter expenditure controls. End-of-period inflation was reduced from 37.8 percent in FY2003 to 12.4 percent in FY2006.
- Basic budgetary procedures have been restored: the FY2005, FY2006 and FY2007 annual budgets were prepared and adopted on time and reflect key poverty reduction and economic recovery priorities. The use of discretionary accounts has been drastically reduced and budget allocations and expenditures are now available for public scrutiny.
- Financial control has been strengthened by setting up a supreme audit institution, which is now catching up on delays in the auditing of government accounts.
- Improvement of public procurement processes: In early 2005, the government adopted a new procurement decree which created the National Commission for Public Procurement (CNMP), re-affirmed the use of competitive procurement methods as the norm and introduced other good practices in public procurement.
- Initial steps have been taken toward setting up the foundations for a modern, merit-based, career civil service. Both a new civil service law and a law for the organization of the central administration were enacted by decree in July 2005, and a census of employment in selected ministries was completed. A coordination unit was set up in the Prime Minister Office with a mandate to implement the new civil service law.
- In 2004, the government ratified the OAS Inter-American Convention against Corruption and created an Anti-Corruption Unit (ULCC), which recently completed a comprehensive diagnostic survey of the state of governance and the perception and experiences of the population with corruption in Haiti as an input to the design of a national anti-corruption strategy.
- To improve the management and transparency of key public enterprises, financial audits of the national port authority (APN), the telecommunications company (TELECO) and the national electricity company (EDH), were completed by international audit firms. The authorities now intend to increase private sector involvement in the telecoms sector and in water and sanitation.
- Civil society can now monitor the program of economic governance reforms and provide feedback to ministries and agencies.

Haiti continues to face vast challenges, and can only overcome the vicious circle of poverty and low growth through sustained effort and long-term international support. The recently elected government has continued the economic governance reforms started under EGRO, thus implementing several additional actions as part of its economic governance reform program (EGRO II and Second Economic Governance Technical Assistance Grant). Priorities under EGRO II will focus on ensuring full and effective implementation of the new legal and institutional framework introduced under EGRO. Given the nature and depth of the governance problems in Haiti and the existing weak institutional capacity, continued support for these reforms will be critical to ensure domestic and external resources are used effectively for social and economic development.