the Minister of Commerce, Georges Rigaud; and the Haitian Ambassador to Washington, Joseph D. Charles. Their objective was to negotiate the terms of a new loan ‘guaranteed by funds set aside by the Tax Department to repay the holders of the 1922-23 loan’. The US government rejected the Haitian request. In a radio speech on March 25, 1947 (which has gone down in history under the title ‘happy miscounts’), President Estimé called on the Haitian people to help unblock the situation and contribute to the payment of the debt. Some ‘Bons de Libération Financière’ were issued and subscriptions flowed nationwide. Thanks to this popular mobilisation and to a 10-year domestic loan at 5%, the American loan of 1922-23 was repaid and on July 10, 1947 the Republic of Haiti put an end to the financial control of the United States. On October 1st, 1947 the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti became a Haitian entity with an entirely Haitian board of directors. a) Economic Development and Employment Fighting catastrophic unemployment and raising the standard of living and education for the underprivileged Haitian population was a great priority for Estimé. With the Haitian State freed from its debt, Estimé embarked on a policy of reviving the economy (Law of July 12, 1947) and administrative and fiscal reforms intended to continue financial consolidation and increase revenue for the State (Law of September 15, 1947 specifying the modalities of budget execution and public accounting; Law of June 23, 1947 establishing a Chamber of Accounts; Law of November 7, 1948 on rental taxes; Law of August 29, 1949 on custom taxation; etc.). Estimé asked the UN General Secretary to send a technical mission to assess the general situation of the country and make recommendations in the areas of economics and finance, education, health and culture. The Commission submitted the report (which was published by the UN) so that the government could incorporate the policies into its development plan. The increase in exports and the prices of agricultural raw materials during this post-war period, notably coffee, sisal and bananas, helped to improve the country’s financial situation. Between 1946 and 1949, the Haitian state budget increased from 46 million to 73 million gourdes, thanks to new tax revenues and profits generated by cement and sugar. At the same time, the public debt fell from 42 million gourdes in 1946 to 40 million gourdes in 1949.