ABSTRACT
In 1981, the Haitian government unveiled a new five-year development plan that called for an unprecedented $1 billion of external economic assistance over the next five years. In Haiti, the World Bank has primarily supported projects such as port development, highways and sewage construction, and the installation of electric power plants. The World Bank's export-led economic development strategy proposes to employ Haiti's comparative advantages primarily to develop the export potential of two economic sectors: agro-industry and the assembly industry. The growth of Haiti's assembly industry is a key component of the export-led development strategy. To obtain cooperation from the Duvalier government in carrying out the new export-led development strategy, the international aid agencies began a concerted effort to bring about government fiscal and administrative reforms. While the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank subcontracted private companies to carry out infrastructural construction, Agency for International Development made the most extensive use of the private sector.
