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Emperor of Japan receives President Mejia The Emperor of Japan, His Imperial Majesty Akihito received President Hipolito Mejia in the Imperial Palace yesterday. Mejia is the second Dominican statesmen to visit the Emperor. Mejia spoke in private with the Emperor for approximately half an hour before the Emperor presented his sons, the princes, who joined them in a formal luncheon. The gesture was described in Hoy newspaper as unusual, given the family is in a period of mourning for 47-year old Prince Takamado, who passed away on 21 November, 2002. President Mejia was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Tolentino Dipp, Minister of Tourism Rafael Subervi Bonilla, Minister of Environment Frank Moya Pons, Dominican ambassador Fausto Sicard Moya and the director of the foreign investment promotion office, Danilo del Rosario. President Mejia said the Emperor, a biologist, discussed such topics as the ongoing research on different fish species. He said they also spoke of the situation in the DR, Venezuela, and the recent elections in Brazil. Also present on behalf of Japan were Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Chairman Osamu Watanabe Watanabe, Japan ambassador in the Dominican Republic Takehisa Nogami, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro Yano, Senior, as well as members of the imperial family. Hoy also reports on the visit President Mejia made to an exhibition of Mitsubishi vehicles, where he was received by Rolf Eckrodt, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors. President Mejia would also visit the National Diet of Japan for meetings with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tamisuke Watanuki, and the President of the House of Councillors, Hiroyuki Kurata. Mejia then travels on to Osaka on 29 November to visit industrial installations and research centers. He will also stop at the Kansai University in Osaka, where he will receive a doctor honoris causa award. |
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Japan agencies to study projects President Hipolito Mejia said that Japanese institutions would consider financing agriculture and environmental projects in the Dominican Republic for US$400-million. The Mejia government presented a list of about 10 projects to Japanese government agencies. Commissions from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) will travel to Santo Domingo to study the projects. JETRO is contemplating the idea of opening an office in Santo Domingo. As reported in Hoy newspaper, such projects include the US$70-million rice production Aglipo III, which would provide for the planting of 100,000 tareas in Bajo Yuna, and the reforestation of several river basins in Azua and San Juan de la Maguana for US$10-million, to be implemented by the Fundacion Sur Futuro. A third project would bring solar energy for the benefit 47,000 families in rural areas, and a loan in the amount of also US$48-million for the Santiago sewer system was requested. President Mejia is hopeful that the Japanese will donate US$25-million to resolve the problem of the gullies that run through several Santo Domingo Province ghettos, and another US$27-million for a feasibility study to be conducted on fishing resources in the Dominican Republic. Also on the list is a rural development project for the Artibonito River Basin, which lies on the Haitian border. The President also announced a donation of US$1-million worth of musical instruments and another for US$9-million to build schools. |
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Edesur given deadline to sort out excess billing The Superintendent of Power Julio Cross said that Edesur power distributing is violating the Power Ruling when it bills for periods greater than 31 days or less than 27 days. The Superintendence says there are many cases of consumers that have been billed for periods of 34 days while Article 458 of the General Law of Electricity, which went into effect in August, obliges the company to invoice its clients based on the meter readings for expired monthly periods. The company was given 15 days to respond on the charges of the excess billing. The affected consumers could be awarded credits for as much as 10 times the amount billed in excess. Cross is urging consumers to visit the Protecom offices to place their claims. |
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Government does not fear arbitrage with Cogentrix Minister of Finance Jose Lois Malkum said that it is less costly for the government if Cogentrix shuts down their generators during the renegotiations of their contract. If the generators remain out of service, the government is obliged to pay Cogentrix a monthly fee of US$ 3.5-million. On the other hand, if the plants are in operation, the government would have to pay US$10-million per month when only able to sell the power for $4-million, thus losing US$6 million in the process. ³We understand that keeping a generator out of service is a problem for the general population, but that is what we did with Smith & Enron when we took the case to international arbitrage because negotiations with them reached a dead end. However, they sat down with us and we found a friendly solution,² Malkum recalled. He added that, if necessary, the government is willing to participate in international litigation and would welcome the opportunity to make known the details of the contract. Six of the seven contracts with private and independent generating companies have been renegotiated. A spokesman for Cogentrix, Leonel Mesa, has said the company would take the Dominican government to international court for arrears in payment. Mesa also said that with the way things are currently, the power plant will become a white elephant - very costly and unusable - given the high production costs. Cogentrix contract negotiations during the Fernandez administration have been difficult to understand, especially when taking into consideration that at the time of the negotiations the country had already suffered from previous bad deals, such as the Hydro Quebec-Sofati scandal and the Smith-Enron contract under the Balaguer administration. Radhames Segura, who signed the contract in September 1998 and was a former administrator of the CDE under the Fernandez government, said that the plant was negotiated during the CDE administration of Temistocles Montas, when Celso Marranzini was president of the CDE board. |
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Dollar supply problems Even though the Central Bank says that the exchange rate is leveling off at a rate between 21 and 21.50, most agencies, including Vimenca and Nacional, do not have any dollars to sell. An El Caribe reporter said that he was only able to find a few agencies selling dollars and that they were limiting purchases to US$500 per client. The problem seems to be one of supply, rather than demand, although Augusto Peignad expressed his amazement at the lack of dollars on the street, given the fact that the Central Bank had injected US$60-million into the market very recently. The average price today for the dollar is 21.34 pesos. |
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Unjustified slide of the peso Luis Manuel Piantini, vice governor of the Central Bank, said the current economic situation does not justify a run on the exchange rate. "A simple mathematical exercise is sufficient to determine that during the last few months the real reasons for the devaluation of the peso are of a physiological and speculative nature." The vice governor added that, "small differences in the trade balance (-1.3%) and other positive cash flow aspects, like the US$651-million that was received as a low-interest loan in the month of September, provide more than enough dollars to the market". Luis Piantini explained that another element affecting the exchange rate is the misleading comments of the press. He believes that things will soon return to normal and that export revenues should continue to improve, while the government expects to make a new placement of sovereign bonds and exercise fiscal restraint. He said with these scenarios there should be more money available for loans to businesses and the interest rates should see a decline in 2003. He also cited the increase in the number of flights and arrivals of new airlines for the coming winter tourism season, along with the recovery of the US economy, as contributing factors to an eventual increase in the flow of foreign currency to the Dominican Republic. Piantini spoke during a conference on Monetary and Financial Policies to Guarantee Macroeconomic Stability at the Central Bank in Santiago to members of the Association of Business of the North Region. |
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Call for controlled government spending The Former president of the National Council of Businessmen, Celso Marranzini, told Hoy newspaper that the government needs to do its part by restricting its spending in order to suppress the run on the peso. He said that if the government does not limit spending, the money in circulation will increase the demand for dollars. The dollar has reached a new record-high of RD$22 to the US$1. Marranzini agrees that there is no economic justification for the continuing devaluation of the peso, outside of the fact that the current year's government spending was up while concurrently export revenues were down. When the peso drops, people rush to convert them into dollars, thereby fueling the run even further. "That kind of desperation makes people buy dollars before they need to use them, which pushes the peso down further," he said. The 2003 Budget presented by the government is for an amount RD$10-billion greater than the budget of last year. |
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Cardinal wants the truth on US soldiers Cardinal Nicolas de Jesús Lopez Rodriguez wants authorities to clarify the situation regarding the 8,000 US soldiers who will arrive here next year. The troops are reported to arrive in February to help improve the patrol of the Dominican-Haitian border and build clinics and schools. The confusion, however, has arisen from contradictory statements made by the Minister of the Armed Forces Jose Miguel Soto Jimenez and the President. Soto Jimenez had said that the troops would not replace Dominican troops in the area but the President said words to the contrary from Japan. |
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The woes of a Pepe Goico look-alike Lieutenant Colonel Luis Guerrero Weber, who is no blood relation to former presidential security chief, Colonel Pedro Julio Goico, tells of his sufferings owed to the great resemblance he bears to the infamous Pepe Goico. Guerrero is a pilot with the army who has flown President Mejia and the Minister of the Armed Forces. He said that people point to him at traffic intersections and comment on how he must have been released from custody. What most bothered him, however, was an occasion on which a store refused to let him make a purchase using his credit card. Pedro Julio Goico was issued several cards in his name with unlimited or very large credit extended and is currently under arrest for fraud. |
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Only one Siamese will survive Doctors say that only one of the two Siamese twins born last Wednesday at the Hospital Jose Maria Goico in Santo Domingo will survive because they share the same heart. Ideally, the director of the hospital would like to send the babies, Naomi and Mairely, to a hospital in the United States for the operation. |
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Major tuition increase for 2004 The National Federation of Private Education Centers (Fenacep) announced that tuition would go up 17%-26% next year. The greater increases would be levied on those who study at English-language or bilingual schools and will be effective for 2003-2004 school year enrollments. Fauntly Garrido, president of the federation, justifies the hikes by saying that there have been significant increases in the cost of power, telephone service, the exchange rate and social security that will increase the costs of the centers. He said that this year has been very difficult for the schools, which have had to absorb significant expenditures that were not contemplated in their budgets. The Minister of Education, Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, recognized that the centers need to adjust their tuition to the escalating costs and said she would state her official position next Monday. |
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Good showing of DR in El Salvador Games The Dominican Republic has accumulated 50 medals in the Central American and Caribbean games being hosted by El Salvador. The Dominican delegation has won 7 gold, 15 silver and 28 bronze medals in just five days of competition. These figures surpass its previous record number of medals that dates back to the 1993 Puerto Rico games, when Dominican athletes won 6 gold, 18 silver and 25 bronze. In the 1998 Games, the Dominican team came away with a total of 75 medals. |
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