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BiggerHaitian merchants who buy in the Dajabón border market are stripped of their products
Dajabon.- The situation on the Haitian border continues to be concerning, as Haitian authorities have been confiscating products from Haitian merchants who manage to purchase goods in the Dajabón border market in the Dominican Republic. Those who reach the Juana Méndez border crossing are detained and have their merchandise confiscated, with some reports of the products being damaged or destroyed by groups stationed there to prevent Haitians from entering the Dominican territory for shopping.
These actions have raised concerns globally as they highlight the difficulties faced by Haitian citizens and the tensions in the region. The situation on the border remains complex and challenging for many Haitians seeking to buy essential goods in the neighboring country.
This is reaching a point of no return… Haïti does not want to reopen the border and the population support the closed border.
Now before all those with little to no knowledge about the economy start to rejoice, here some facts :
DR annual budget : $12.8 billions.
DR total GDP : $112.47 billions.
DR trade deficit : $17.12 billions.
DR trade surplus with Haiti : $3billions.
So trade with Haiti is a whooping 38.4% of the annual budget.
Those numbers are not good, those Haitian that you love to hate brings $3 billions to the DR economy, if anyone think that Haiti has more to lose than the DR is delusional… In the short term maybe but in the long term, the DR lose this is why we see your president pushing to reopen the border… Because he knows. And it seems like the Haitians understood that this is why they decided to hit where it hurt… In the wallet.
Honestly as a Dominican. I think is the best thing for Haiti and the Dominican Republic. We need to stop relying an each other because we are in the same island. The Dominican Republic should be opening new markets for their products not relying on an unstable govt. And the hardworking Haitians need to be in Haiti constructing new buildings as in hotels and schools and hospitals not making rich Dominicans and foreigners richer . We are two different cultures two different people. And that will never change. No matter what the UN USA Canada and any NGO says.
As an island and neighboring countries, you should be very close, almost like brothers because it is easier. Saying “we need to find new market” is easier said than done… Other countries already have their suppliers and unless you sell minerals or rare products, you will have a hard time entering those new market to sell your product. On the Haitian side, it will be easier to find new suppliers because there will always be people who would want to sell products… The best thing to do is some kind of reset of the situation and relation, there is way too much animosity now and only a hard reset will solve this and also while not all Dominican are racist against Haitian, you can not deny that a lot of them are. Now not all Haitian problems are because of the DR, quite the contrary and it is Haiti who should fix their country but the relation needs to be reset. For the he border, you can not close the border to people and expect their money to flow in… I know this is election time and like in most elections, immigration is the hot topic but be careful not to do too much damage because it will be way harder to find new market, it is not like Russia who easily found other market for oil and gas… We are talking about agricultural products here, something a lot of countries grow themselves
It’s not going to be easy to open up new markets but Haiti should be the last resort. We are not brothers we are just sharing the same island. We have different culture languages and religion. The problem with Haiti is that they use the same rhetoric that will brothers and they need to help us. Hopefully one day Dominican Republic USA Canada and the UN cuts the cord and lets the Haitian people decide want they want. The Haitian People are hardworking people who are creating wealth in the Dominican Republic for foreigners and Rich Dominicans. Not for the people of the Dominican Republic. We have own battle with corruption and greed and the Haitian people have their own battle in their country.
Trade with haiti is not 3 biilions. is less than 700 millions not very relevant.
border comerce is subsistance commerce and of low impact behond the borders communities. not that important
I would add that, most the informal and unregulated commerce at the border, hardly contributes to either government coffers. Neither collect any significant taxes on this trade….if any
Yes , true , haiti will end up buying from otjer countries at a very expensive cost , Dom Rep is right there a mile away, no shipping cost , DR main income is Turism, Jobs every where c
, call center by the thousands , the food haiti doesnt want can be sold right here in DR, in the meantime DR will find other trading countries,
hummm….According to the IMF, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (current prices) for October 2023 is approx. 120 billion dollars. The exports to Haiti account for $955M (2021). So, 995M represents approximately 0.829% of 120B….of DR’s GDP right?