President Leonel Fernandez was scheduled to visit the New York Stock Exchange this morning in the company of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as reported in El Caribe.
As part of his official visit, Fernandez met with directors of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service yesterday, and signed a cooperative teachers' training agreement between the New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Fernandez is featured in an interview in The New York Times on occasion of his visit.
Later today, he is scheduled to fly to Miami to join Prime Minister PJ Patterson of Jamaica, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago, President Ricardo Maduro of Honduras, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue of Haiti, President Oscar Berger of Guatemala, President Antonio Saca of El Salvador and President Enrique Bolanos of Nicaragua in their participation in the CCAA's 28th Annual Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin. The event is being held at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Miami, Florida and began on 6 December. President Leonel Fernandez is scheduled to give the keynote address at tonight's closing dinner.
See http://www.c-caa.org/04conf_agenda.html
President Fernandez is expected to return to the DR on Thursday, 9 December after having spent nearly one week in the United States.
The National Council of Business (CONEP) disagrees with the government's agreement with the IMF to leave its payroll at October levels, viewing it as excessive. The government payroll cost taxpayers RD$2.18 billion in October, an amount that was already RD$92.7 million more than what was spent in September.
The business sector requested that the government incorporate recommendations made by a commission formed by the government in May 2003 to reduce public employment. The commission recommended that the payroll be reduced to the levels of August 2000, when it cost a lesser RD$1.2 billion.
In 2005, the government plans to spend RD$35 billion on its payroll, which will include the approved 30% wage increase to be effected in two parts: a 15% increase in January and another 15% in July.
Former Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkun had said there were at least 125,000 too many names on the government payroll.
CONEP points out that there is no point in the business sector becoming lean and more modern if the government does not do the same. "To establish new taxes in detriment of the productive sectors and consumers can only bring more problems," it stated. The business group advocated that "it is time to make the state efficient and strong and reduce its size. It is time to eliminate barriers and obstacles to competitiveness and promote investment and to create jobs."
So far, the Fernandez administration has increased taxes in order to continue to operate its large bureaucracy.
Central Bank international reserves reached US$567.9 million in November, according to the institution. As reported in Diario Libre, the reserve level is much greater than what the IMF had requested for 2004 and 2005. The newspaper reports that gross international reserves had risen and represented US$1.01 billion last month. The letter of intent to the IMF refers to an average level of international net reserves of US$300 million for 2005 and at US$600 million for 2006. The newspaper highlights that the Central Bank has increased its reserve levels by taking advantage of the appreciation of the peso currency.
Education is a supposed priority for the Fernandez government, but, according to a report in the Listin Diario, the budget assigned to the Ministry of Education may not attest to that. Government funding of educational programs accounts for only 8% of the total budget, while years ago it was nearer the 16% that is called for by law.
The department has been allotted RD$2 billion less than what it had requested of the Executive Branch. For instance, while it had requested RD$843 million for the construction, repair and equipping of public schools, it was only allotted RD$13.2 million.
The Ministry of Education received a total allotment of RD$16 billion for 2005, up from RD$12 billion in 2004. The Ministry had requested a budget for 2005 of RD$19 billion.
The Senate approved yesterday a first reading on the bill that would abolish the 25% tax on corn syrup imports. The surcharge was ratified after the country had signed a free trade agreement with the United States, an issue that has caused a lot of fallout. The United States Trade Representative Office opposes the surtax on the grounds that it violates the DR-CAFTA accord. Some 20 senators of 32 voted in favor of removing the touchy item from the legislation, while 12 others abandoned the hall, including the president of the Senate, Andres Bautista (PRD Salcedo), in protest of the generous settlements the senators granted the sugar cane industry in exchange for eradicating the contentious tax.
The bill presented by Senator Ramon Alburquerque (PRD-Monte Plata) establishes that the government will return to the sugar industry all taxes that have been paid on purchases to providers or to customs of all general goods, finished products, semi-finished products, raw materials, inputs and packaging materials, regardless of whether they to be used for the manufacture of taxable goods or not. Also exempted will be all imports of capital goods brought in through the payment of exchange commissions or any other similar charges established by the Monetary Board or any government entity.
The senators voted to eliminate Paragraph IX of Article 375 that was modified by Article 11 of Law 288-08 on Tax Reform.
The senators agreed to amend item "e" of Article 87 of Law 11-92 of the Tax Code to allow the deduction of funds used to repair, conserve or improve agro-industrial activities, including the sugar industry, of an amount that does not exceed 5% of assets.
A nine-member commission was appointed to study the bill that may be presented for a second reading as early as Friday.
Diario Libre reports today that Dominican taxpayers support known and unknown non-governmental agencies to the tune of RD$1.05 billion a year. The newspaper says the government recognizes 3,366 of these organizations in the 2005 budget, which would signify one NGO per every 2,400 inhabitants. The budgeted amount to NGOs was increased by RD$132 million over that of 2004, when RD$922.7 million was disbursed to 3,116 entities.
La Vega's municipal government is an example to follow nationwide, as its mayor, Fabio Ruiz, announced that the initiation of studies to implement the first garbage classification system in the country, in which different colored containers would be used for different types of garbage. The city government already boasts a new fleet of three garbage collection trucks and one truck to wash the 700 containers that pick up 600 tons of garbage in the city every day. The city government invested 1.7 million euros in the purchase. Ruiz says that the new system will bring savings to the city government as it is more efficient than the 15 dump trucks used previously to collect the trash. He said that each truck is operated by one person, instead of five in the past, and that it only takes two minutes to pick up one container.
Ruiz is known for being one of the most efficient mayors in the Dominican Republic. He has consistently said that what sets him apart is that he uses the available funds for the city, not for political patronage. Ruiz won the mayor seat running on the PRD ticket in 2002.
In addition to the future implementation of the first garbage classification system in the country, Ruiz said they plan to build a landfill for the specific types of garbage.
The study that caused a clash between former Vice-Presidente Milagros Ortiz Bosch and the president of the PRD, Vicente Sanchez Baret, who disagreed over whether the findings should be released, has now been made public. As reported in the Listin Diario, former Culture Minister Tony Raful read during a press conference that 68% of PRD members want the party leadership to be renewed, and feel it should be a priority if the party hopes to return to power. El Caribe's report on the survey showed that only 28% of the 40,629 people polled were satisfied with the leadership of the PRD.
With regards to last May's electoral defeat, 64% said that internal conflict was the main reason for the loss, 51% cited the notion of allowing re-election and 38% attributed the loss to a distancing between the government and the party.
The survey shows that 54% of PRD members feel there is little internal democracy in the party, while 41% said that the PRD leaders view the party as personal property to be used to turn a profit for themselves and their followers.
60% feel that the party members should choose their candidates, and that this vote should not be open to everyone.
The most damaging practices that exist within the partyare the splinter groups caused by internal division, clientelism and political patronage, and corruption, said 68% of PRD respondents.
The announcedrelease of the survey's findings caused Vicente Sanchez Baret, the party president, to quit the PRD in protest. Sanchez Baret was present at yesterday's press conference, and said he had thought the matter over and decided to return to his obligations in the PRD.
Hatuey de Camps and his minority faction within the PRD do not support the implementation of the Law of Primaries that was hastily passed by Congress after the PRD lost its bid for re-election in May 2004. De Camps particularly rejected the implementation of the law by the present judges. "If the law is discussed, it should be done after changes have been made in the composition of the JCE," he said. The former PRD president also criticized the speed with which the electronic vote tender was held and a winner chosen.
De Camps spoke during a visit to PRD headquarters, which, readers may recall, he took over after being ousted from his position of party president. His ejection came at the hands of the PPH faction of the party that imposed former President Hipolito Mejia as the PRD's presidential candidate in the May 2004 election. De Camps was the sole dissident among those vying for the PRD presidential candidacy to oppose Mejia's bid for the presidency.
El Caribe newspaper notes that he was accompanied by supporters Hector Aristy, Franklin Franco, Francisco Cano Gonzalez, Felipa Gomez, Henry Mejia, Antonio Marte and Amadeo Lorenzo Ramirez. The two last have been in the press for their involvement with the Plan Renove scandal that was implemented under the Mejia administration.
Participacion Ciudadana, a non-governmental organization that aims to foster the participation of citizens in community affairs, and the Institute of Internal Auditors of the Dominican Republic (IAIRD) signed an agreement to strengthen internal audits of government finances. Javier Cabreja, PC's executive director, said that the issue is not a matter of political persecution against any one entity, but neither is it about allowing impunity to prevail in the investigations into PEME (Fernandez government 1996-2000), the cases bank fraud and Plan Renove (Mejia government 2000-2004).
IAIRD has committed to monitor the fulfillment of Law 10-04 on the Chamber of Accounts and to contribute to the adoption of policies that guarantee the transparency in public administration.
Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito said last night that individuals with ties to drug trafficking and powerful politicians and members of the military political were indirectly linked to a supposed scheme to have him murdered. He said that much attention is being given to the case after a youth in Santiago said he was involved in a plot to murder him, Senator Victor Mendez (PRD-Santiago) and others. Dominguez said that the death of one policeman was linked to these groups, and there have been serious confrontations between drug traffickers, with some 40 people dead insettling of accounts in Santiago.
Police are on the trail of four men suspected of stealing 36 tons of ferronickel from the Falconbridge mines. The material was recovered in a sugar cane field on the Guerra-Boca Chica highway two days after the theft in a truck covered with black dirt. The driver of the truck that was carrying the cargo, Jose Eduardo Garcia, told police he was at Km40 of Duarte Highway on his way to the Andres mega-port when four men intercepted him and obliged him to hand over the truck. He was later abandoned at Km18 of the highway.
The president of the Puerto Plata Hotel Association, Jesus Almanzar, urged more resources to combat crime on the North Coast. He said that there is great concern among hoteliers due to the near total lack of police surveillance in the tourist region. According to Almanzar, local law enforcement agents barely have two vehicles with which to patrol the entire North Coast area. Recently, a van carrying tourists from the remote Cayo Arena sand bar was assaulted, and a couple of tourists were assaulted as they repaired a flat tire on the Imbert road in the past 30 days or so.
Do not miss the Christmas Arts & Crafts Fair set for Saturday and Sunday at Columbus Park in the Colonial City. The event is being organized by the Ministry of Culture and will be open from 9am to 8pm on both days. The event is being co-sponsored by the Peace Corps and the IDDI non-governmental agency.
Miss Dominican Republic, 18-year-old Claudia Cruz, returned home yesterday after winning the title of first runner-up in the Miss World contest held in Beijing. Cruz was received at Las Americas International Airport with regal honors.
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