April 27, 2012 (Latin America Data Byte)

April 27, 2012

April 27, 2012 (GDP Byte)

Dean Baker
The Guardian Unlimited, April 26, 2012

Rep. Paul Ryan sat down with Steve Forbes recently to have a "very serious" conversation about the U.S. economy. The architect of the House budget plan, Ryan stated in the interview that what America needs is “…prosperity, not austerity.” This is an inter

The Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti released updated data this week on public sector donor disbursements since the earthquake in Haiti. The Special Envoy has been instrumental in holding donors accountable for pledges they made at the March 2010 New York donor’s conference. For the period 2010-2012, 55 public sector donors pledged $5.48 billion dollars with $2.48 billion, or 45.3 percent being disbursed so far. This represents an increase of $96 million since the last update in December 2011, the smallest such increase since the Special Envoy has been tracking donor disbursements.

Overall, the $2.48 billion has been disbursed through four main channels:

-          $1.65 billion (66.6 percent) in grants to multilateral agencies, NGOs and private contractors
-          $337.2 million (13.6 percent) in budget support to the Government of Haiti
-          $295.6 million (11.9 percent) to the World Bank, IDB and UN through the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF)
-          $196.9 million (7.9 percent) in loans to the Government of Haiti

The vast majority of these funds were disbursed in 2010. According to the Special Envoy (PDF), $1.61 billion was disbursed in 2010, $843.1 million in 2011 and just $27.8 million thus far in 2012.  An important qualifier is that disbursed does not mean spent. For example, of the $295.6 million that has gone to the HRF, only $55.7 million has been spent on the ground.

As can be seen in Figure 1, many of the top donors have failed to live up to their pledges (PDF).

Figure 1.

Mark WeisbrotThe Guardian Unlimited, 18 de abril, 2012Página/12, 25 de abril, 2012En Inglés | En Italiano | En Portugués

April 24, 2012 (Housing Market Monitor)

April 24, 2012