External debt of Haiti

In the early 21st century, and especially after the devastating earthquake in 2010, the World Bank and some other governments had planned to forgive the debt.

[2][3] Haiti's legacy of debt began shortly after a widespread slave revolt against the French, with Haitians gaining their independence from France in 1804.

[6] In addition to the payment, France required that Haiti provide a fifty percent discount on its exported goods to them, making repayment more difficult.

[6][5][8] Historians have traced loan documents from the time of the 1825 Ordinance, through the various refinancing efforts, to the final remittance to National City Bank (now Citibank) in 1947.

Jean-Claude Duvalier, who ran the country from 1971 to 1986 was exiled to France after being overthrown and has been charged with theft and misappropriation of funds during his rule.

Between 2006 and 2009, Haiti was added to the World Bank and IMF's highly indebted poor country initiative (HIPC).

[19] Following the devastating effects of the early 2010 earthquake in Haiti there came renewed calls for a further debt cancellation from civil society groups.

Civil society groups protested the offer of loans and not grants for such an already heavily indebted country trying to cope with such destruction.

[22] In 2004, the Haitian government demanded that France repay Haiti for the millions of dollars paid between 1825 and 1947 as compensation for the property loss of French slaveholders and landowners as a result of the slaves' freedom.