The First Ladies of Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada will meet in Santo Domingo on 15-17 October, with the aim of launching a hemispheric strategy for youth and the struggle against poverty. The XII Conference of First Ladies, Wives, and Representatives of Heads of State and Government of the Americas will also provide a forum for youth leaders from the Americas, who will identify the top health and education issues.
The government is taking steps to prepare for the May signing of a free trade agreement with the United States. Although the Dominican Republic plans to dock itself to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, it will be allowed to make recommendations for certain changes. Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzman de Hernandez will lead the team of negotiatiors, which will include Hugo Rivera Fernandez, Manuel Diaz Franjul, Hugo Rivera Santana (Industry & Commerce Ministry), Orlando Jorge Mera (INDOTEL), Eduardo Rodriguez, Magin Diaz, Claudia Troncoso (Finance Ministry), Santiago Tejada, Natalia Polanco, Lynette Batista (Foreign Relations Ministry), Carolina Mejia (daughter of President Hipolito Mejia), Jeannette Dominguez (CNZFE), Elka Scheker and Patricia Mejia (CEI-RD), Milton Ray Guevara (Labor Ministry), Jesus de los Santos (Agriculture Ministry), Hector Rene Ledesma (Ministry of Environment), and others. The government announced that the consultations with the private sector regarding the Dominican position on the FTA with the US will begin this week. Sonia Guzman is promoting the FTA on grounds that it will stimulate new jobs, increase investment, transfer technology, generate foreign currency, and improve education and the institutionalism of the government.
When asked by the press to comment on the revoking of the visa of presidential legal advisor Guido Gomez Mazara for supposed drug links, Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez recommended President Mejia check those who accompany him. He expressed his indignation after the scandal caused by the revoking of the personal visa of Guido Gomez Mazara. He commented on other named government officers that have been killed or involved in criminal acts. Specifically regarding Gomez Mazara, the Cardinal said it is up to the latter to decide whether he resigns or not. "The government needs to question itself if it should keep at high echelons of power a person who not for nothing has had his visa revoked. I think, without doubt, that this is something that calls for concern," he stated. But the Cardinal also blasted past governments. "All have conducted themselves in the same way, this and the past government. Nothing has been done to fight corruption." He said that beyond an economic or political crisis, the country is undergoing a moral crisis. The Cardinal spoke during the graduation of 350 new professionals at the Universidad Nordestana de San Francisco de Macoris. During the graduation, he received a honoris causa degree.
Public Works Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado announced that La Isabela International Airport will be inaugurated in November, as reported in the Listin Diario. The airport has yet to be certified for operation and news reports indicate that birds attracted by the nearby Duquesa garbage dump and the La Isabela River ecosystem present certain problems for aircraft operations at the airport. The facility was built to replace the Herrera International Airport, where the land has already been sold by the state in view of its debt to public works contractors.
The Metropolitan Transport Authority is in discussion with a private company that could be entrusted with the collection of fines for traffic violations. To increase these revenues, reports Hoy newspaper, the company would increase the present levels of fines, of which it would earn 25%. The penalty for not using a seat belt, for example, would increase from RD$50 to RD$10,500 under the new regime. The company is also recommending that fines of RD$100 be raised to RD$3,500 and that those at RD$25 be augmented to RD$975. In today's edition, Diario Libre criticizes the proposed takeover on grounds that the company is an unknown entity. No details are known of the contract that AMET would sign to entrust the company to collect the fines in the name of the government and the newspaper says the scheme would be yet another abuse against citizens. "It is unthinkable that, with all the needs of the judicial system, someone should be handed - for nothing - RD$6 million a month, without the state saying anything?" The newspaper urges all to reject the proposal.
One of the alternatives currently being studied to help the government increase its revenues is a tax on foreign exchange transactions. Senate president Jesus Vasquez (PRD-Maria Trinidad Sanchez) and Chamber of Deputies leader Angel Pacheco (PRD-National District) met with President Hipolito Mejia on the matter. President Mejia had urged his party legislators, who form a majority in Congress, to pass the 5% tax on exports. The tax is being stringently rejected, however, by the business sector.
Diario Libre reports that inflation this year is already at 26.47%, with forecasts that it may reach 35% by December. The good news is that the cost of living somewhat slowed its rate of increase in September, rising by only 1.5% -- less than the 3.06% increase of August.
The doubled cost of rice in local markets so far this year is the talk of the day, after prices have moved up at a faster pace in the past weeks. Speaking for the Ministry of Agriculture, its deputy secretary Jesus de los Santos says the recent price hike is due to speculation of wholesalers hoarding their stock. The government estimates there are 2.5 million pounds of rice in wholesalers' warehouses. Osmar Benitez, executive vice-president of the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD), said that while rice should be reaching consumers at RD$8 per pound, supermarkets were selling the staple item from RD$9.50 to RD$12. Hoy newspaper reports that the price of a 125-lb bag of select rice has jumped from RD$800 to RD$970. Pablo Ciorinero, president of the Amaprosan wholesalers' organization, believed the government should allow rice imports to enter the country. Carlos Rodriguez, owner of a retailer operation at the Hospedaje Yaque market, said that he has been told the cost of rice would increase to RD$15 per pound by December. He attributed the rises to a local scarcity. The Listin Diario reports that Agriculture Minister Eligio Jaquez announced that 1 million quintals (100 million kilos) of rice would be released to the market, so that the select grade of rice should not sell for more than RD$9.25 per pound, and that intermediaries would be sold a pound of rice for RD$7.30. Jaquez said import permits for rice would not be granted and that the country has sufficient stocks to supply the market until April 2004. The motive behind the commotion over the price increases, says Jaquez, is the wholesalers' aim to receive lucrative contracts to import their rice. Over the years, the government has also protected local rice producers, who have benefited from preferential prices. Nevertheless, when the DR signs the free trade agreement with the US next year, Dominican consumers could gain access to imported rice at much cheaper prices if markets are freed and imports are not restricted to government-picked importers.
The National Business Council (CONEP), in its most recent news analysis published in El Caribe on Sunday, approved the unification of the exchange market on the grounds that the government would no longer be able to manipulate it to suit its own purposes. CONEP says the official transactions represent only 12% of the total market, and that if the Central Bank adequately plans its public debt and petroleum payments, stability should not be affected. The anxiety in the market that caused the peso to slide last week was attributed to an acute sensitivity in the market to any rule changes. The market unification will foster competitiveness, promote exports versus imports and discourage the release of money without reserves, according to the foremost business sector association. The challenge ahead, CONEP predicts, is for the authorities to promote competition in the exchange system, in order to truly establish a free market, while implementing macroeconomic policies to encourage a stable rate of exchange at levels that stimulate exports without artificially reducing the price of imports.
In its most recent report, the Cenantillas economic research center of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) indicates that the present economic difficulties are primarily due to the inappropriate domestic financial and monetary policies implemented by the Mejia government. Cenantillas says that unbridled fiscal expansion caused real public investment to grow 35% in 2001 and 36.6% in 2002. At the same time, however, the private sector scrimped, with private investment falling 2.5% and 1.8% during the same years. "This crowding out of the private sector as a consequence of the increase in taxation eroded macroeconomic stability and created extremely adverse conditions for the foreign exchange market and the banking sector," Cenantillas says in its analysis, as reported by Hoy newspaper. According to Cenantillas, fiscal pressures, monetary policy and erratic exchange market intervention created the conditions for a confidence and credibility crisis that degenerated into an exchange and banking calamity. The government then resorted to the standby arrangement with the IMF to restore faith, but shortly after, new bank failures were made known, the government took on additional debt with the renationalization of the power distributors, and the political crisis intensified, prompting disputes within the ruling party itself. Cenantillas feels that the worst is yet to come, however, despite the marked drop in economic growth, high levels of inflation, unprecedented devaluation and increase in unemployment.
Presidente's Latin Music Festival will spend more than US$1 million to hire its Latin music celebrities. According to El Caribe, the Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, brewers of Presidente beer, invested US$1,010,000 (or approximately RD$35 million) to lure its 14 performers. Of the money spent, 95% will be earned by foreigners and 5% by local acts. Remuneration for the stars is as follows: Chayanne (US$350,000), Ricardo Arjona (US$160,000), Juanes (US$110,000), Ricardo Montaner (US$80,000), Gilberto Santa Rosa (US$75,000), Rosario Flores (US$75,000), La Ley (US$45,000), Bacilos (US$35,000), El Gran Combo (US$20,000), Sergio Vargas (US$20,000), Milly Quezada (US$20,000), Aventura (US$15,000), Monchy (US$10,000), and Ilegales (US$10,000). The festival opens Friday, 17 October at the Olympic Stadium of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.
The Listin Diario reported that Miss Universe, Amelia Vega of the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rican superstar Chayanne hit it off regally when they coincided on the Miami-based TV variety show, "Sabado Gigante". They seemed to connect while dancing to a hit belonging to Vega's uncle, Juan Luis Guerra's "La Bilirubina". The Puerto Rican's admiration for the charismatic Vega was apparent, especially when he sung "Tiempo de Vals," one of his most successful ballads. Miss Universe aspires to develop a singing career once her reign as Miss Universe is over. Chayanne will appear in Santo Domingo on Sunday, 19 October as part of the Presidente Latin Music Festival.
Jose Leon Asencio confirmed that E. Leon Jimenes will take over the management of the amphitheater of the Parque del Este, built for the 2003 Pan American Games. In an interview with the Listin Diario, he explained that the idea is to present a continuous array of shows at the arena. Leon feels the amphitheater is an ideal place for performances of popular acts and hopes to contribute so that the venue is adequately maintained and in constant use.
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