Rising oil prices provoked riots Haitian Prime Minister resigned – Radio Central Television – Radio Taiwan International

Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigned on the 14th. The fall of La Fontaine is linked to the deadly riots caused by rising oil prices in recent days, although this policy has already been suspended.

La Fontaine told the House of Representatives of Haiti: "I submitted my resignation to the President of the Republic, and the President accepted my resignation." La Fontaine insisted that He would not resign. But in fact, if he does not take the initiative to resign, Congress should launch a vote of no confidence in him.

Haiti, a poor Caribbean country, announced last week that it would increase its main fuel price by 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel and 51 percent for kerosene. .

This announcement triggered a large-scale protest. The main roads of the capital, Port-au-Prince and other cities, were blocked by protesters armed with burning tires and other roadblocks. Dozens of stores were stolen, cars were burned and at least four people were killed during the riots.

The Haitian government has therefore made a major shift in its policy of canceling the plan to increase oil prices.

La Fontaine was originally a doctor and had little political experience before becoming prime minister in February 2017. In fact, La Fontaine was criticized before the start of the protest.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Port-au-Prince on the 14th, demanding that in addition to La Fontaine, President Jovenel Moise also resign. A protester, Fleurette Pierre, said: "It's not just a matter of replacing the Prime Minister, because the population is still suffering from poverty, unemployment, insecurity and hunger." [19659003] Haiti is an extremely poor country. About 60% of the population spends less than two dollars a day, even though it's only a slight increase in prices she can not afford.

In February of this year, the Haitian government signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement economic and structural reforms to promote growth, including the phasing out of oil price subsidies . The agreement also requires the Haitian government to keep the inflation rate below 10%.

Since 2015, the rate of inflation in Haiti has remained from 13% to 14% per year. At the end of June this year, the Haitian government sent a draft budget to Congress, predicting that the inflation rate will still reach 13.6%.