A gas shortage cripples businesses as well. The warehouse we rent as a storage and distribution site for medical supplies is actually in a factory where they process and bag clean drinking water and make huge blocks of ice so people can have cold drinks. A lot of people do not own ice makers, but even if they did, they would also need constant electricity for the units to function. So, this business distributes bags of water and blocks of ice get via truck to local vendors who sell them on the streets. And a gas shortage means that they cannot make clean drinking water.
The barrier for entry for businesses in Haiti is extremely high and this is a huge contributing factor to the high unemployment rate. Things we completely take for granted in the U.S. are not so in Haiti. To open a business, you not only have to provide your own security, but you also have to ensure that you have your own constant fuel supply (or, rather, a reliable source electricity, like solar.) The entrepreneur-owner of this water and ice factory spent eight years lining up all the necessary pieces, and when he finally did open, he had 10,000 people apply for 500 jobs. People want to work; they just don't have the opportunity to. A fuel shortage affects every step in the commercial processes of manufacturing, distribution and sales. And a fuel shortage doesn't inspire much confidence for entrepreneurs here, who, like everywhere else, drive economic activity.
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