The Haitian economy is more than just on its knees - it's now a matter of skin and bones. Sanctions against the military regime in the early 1990s failed to shift the generals but did succeed in reducing economic capacity by a quarter. Since then, there has been no recovery, and the latest data for the financial year 2000-01 shows that economic growth was negative - a GDP growth rate of minus 1.2% What then is the response of the 'international community', of the donor countries that provide development aid to prevent Haiti becoming a fully-fledged disaster area? The answer - they have decided to continue with a new round of economic sanctions.
