Trade between the Dominican Republic and Haiti is beginning to feel the effects of the social and migratory conflict between the two countries.
The constant blockades on the entry and exit of merchandise, as well as the difficulties in operations in the binational market, where more than US$400 million a year is traded informally, caused Dominican exports to that country to fall by 24.72% in October, year-on-year.
In October 2022, the Dominican Republic placed US$63.8 million in merchandise in Haiti, being the second destination of exported products in the aforementioned month. 6.43% of the total exported, according to data from Pro Dominicana.
Despite the fact that Haiti positioned itself as the second destination for Dominican exports, it exported US$20.94 million less netly than in relation to the same month of 2021. It went from US$84.7 million to US$63.8 million.
In the month of September the fall is greater, since they only reached US$56.3 million, a drop of 33.71% compared to the same month of 2021.
While, in the month of August 2022, the decrease in exports to Haiti began, they decreased 4.6% year-on-year. They went from US$92.4 million to US$88.2 million.
EXPORTS FALL BUT HAVE RECORD NUMBERS
Although Dominican exports to the neighboring country of Haiti show a decrease in the last three months of 2022, between January and October they increased 13.12% compared to the same period in 2021, reaching the historic figure of US$885.7 million.
The amount exported in the first ten months of 2022 is 45% higher than the same date in 2020 (US$610.6 million) and 28% higher than in 2019 (US$691.9 million).
The growth is due to the rebound they had in the first months of 2022, with March being the month with the highest amount exported to Haiti, some US$120.3 million.
WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI
In Haiti, violent acts have increased and approximately 70% of that territory is controlled by criminal gangs, which has increased the irregular migratory flow of Haitians to the Dominican Republic.
Faced with the wave of Haitians who cross the borders between the two countries illegally, the Dominican authorities increased immigration operations and deportations.
The repatriations have met with opposition from the United Nations Organization for Human Rights and United States authorities, who have asked the authorities to stop the deportations of Haitians, a request that has been denied, even increasing the number of operations.
The director of Migration, Venancio Alcántara, assured that in the month of July 9,000 foreign citizens who remained in the country illegally had been deported; as of August it increased to 9,500; in September it increased to 9,900 and in October 15,500 deported illegal aliens were registered, although the nationality was not specified.
Due to the increase in deportations, Haitians have prevented the passage of Dominican merchandise to that nation demanding a cessation of repatriations. The blockades keep trade between the two nations in a state of uncertainty, taking place irregularly.
With information from Bloomberg Línea