MEXICO CITY - Haiti's economy recorded a "quite robust growth" of 2% in 2009 before being hit by a devastating earthquake, the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said Thursday.

Haiti "produced quite robust growth by Latin American standards" given that "Latin America's economy declined by 2.1%," said ECLAC's regional office director Hugo Beteta.

The improvement in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, was largely the result of some $900 million of the nation's external debt being forgiven, which allowed the country to divert resources to domestic investments, he told AFP.

The World Bank announced Thursday that it would waive Haiti's debt repayments for the next five years in the wake of the January 12 earthquake, which killed at least 75,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, Haiti officials said.

The bank said it would also work to cancel the entire $38 million Haiti owes.