LAST year’s devastating earthquake that crippled Haiti’s economy and infrastructure has meant that the country has to now look to a raft of investment from the international private sector.

The Inter-American Development Bank estimates that the damage wrought may be twice the value of the country’s annual economy. Haiti produced only US$7 billion in goods and services in 2008, according to the World Bank. Economists Eduardo Cavallo, Andrew Powell and Oscar Beccerra estimated the magnitude-seven quake caused damage worth between US$8 billion and US$14 billion.

“This is just an assessment of damage; it gives no indication of the amount of money to get the country back as if nothing had happened,” Cavalo told The Associated Press.

Earlier this week Jamaica Air Shuttle and PriceWaterhouseCoopers put on a breakfast briefing at the Pegasus Hotel entitled Caricom’s New Business Frontier-Haiti.

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica PJ Patterson who is now the Caricom Special Representative on Haiti made it clear that Haiti was in dire need of private sector investment and that many of the pledges of donations made had failed to materialise. He said that there are plans to put in place a Caribbean Community Fund for disasters like Haiti but to date the response has been at best lukewarm.

Speaking with Caribbean Business Report yesterday, the former Prime Minister said: “Many of the pledges made should be going to the Haiti Recovery Fund and not into bilateral projects. The immediate priorities in Haiti are shelter, sanitation, infrastructure and employment.

These are the areas that require immediate attention and that fact should not get lost.

Patterson estimates that it will take around US$11 billion to rehabilitate the public sector of Haiti and another US$25 billion for the private sector. He further added that a Caribbean investment fund would see Caricom playing a major role and would probably be managed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

“The aim would be to assist the agricultural sector, help in the recreation of professional services, recruit social and economic planners, the whole gamut,” said Patterson.

Caricom’s Special Representative to Haiti said that the task at hand has proven most challenging and that commitments made to help Haiti have not been forthcoming.”We are seeing slower progress than I would have liked but I continue to encourage Jamaican companies to invest in Haiti. There are tremendous opportunities there.”

CEO of Jamaica Broilers Christopher Levy said that his company is already looking at opportunities there and is encouraging other Jamaican companies to also do so.

“Haitians are very receptive to Jamaicans and I would encourage our companies to go there and take a look. The people are very proud and honourable and business is conducted in English. We see many opportunities for Jamaica Broilers there. Let’s not forget that  Haiti has a population of over 9 million people. Our private sector can play a role in Haiti’s rehabilitation. I don’t see why not.”

Digicel Group’s Business Development Director Ken Mason said that the telecoms company saw an investment opportunity in Haiti and did not judge the book by its cover. He pointed to encouraging macro economic indicators which shows GDP growth for 2011/12 expected to rise to 7.5 per cent spurred by the release of foreign aid, steady remittance inflows and an increase in construction activity.

He added that annual inflation was steady in 2010 averaging 5.7 per cent and ending the year at 6.2 per cent. After strengthening from G42:US$1 in December 2009 (pre-earthquake), the Gourde continues to strengthen and in January 2011 stood at G40.2:US$1.

Mason said that Digicel decided to invest in Haiti noting that it had one f the lowest mobile penetration rates in the Western world (5.7 per cent in 2005) with significant potential for growth. Five years later, Digicel’s investment there stands at over US$300 million and it has 2.5 million subscribers, making it one of the largest private sector investors  in Haiti. He said it was vitally important for any potential investor to engage a local partner that could guide them through an unfamiliar business environment. He further advised that any company must identify credible human resource locally and respect that local workforce. Digicel’s operations there presently has a 95 per cent local staff complement.

“It is very important to endear yourself to the country and to be respectful at all times. The onus is upon you to command their respect. When the food riots broke out in 2008, we were there for just three years but the people kept saying during the riots, “Don’t touch Digicel!”