The Central Bank's Monetary Board has approved the regulations that will allow the use of state pension plan savings for property construction. The decision will enable banks to make long-term financing of up to 30 years available for real estate projects, both to developers and individual buyers.
See http://www.bancentral.gov.do/notas_del_bc.asp?a=bc2006-09-11
The Central Bank reports that the Consumer Price Index for August increased by 0.19% compared to the previous month. The moderate increase is the result of the decline in fuel prices. The annual rate of inflation (August 2005 to August 2006) was 9.35%, while accumulated inflation for this year (January to August 2006) was 4.6%. Average inflation for the last 12 months was 7.77%. The Central Bank expects the country to meet its objective of single-digit inflation by year's end.
Andy Wolfe, the IMF chief of mission in the Dominican Republic, has told a government-sponsored energy seminar that the money being used to subsidize the cost of electricity and propane gas (LPG) would be better used in education and health care. According to Diario Libre, Wolfe said that education and public health are vital issues that need solving in the DR. Wolfe pointed out that there is no nation in the world at the development level of the Dominican Republic that spends as much money on subsidizing such a deficient electricity system. For this reason, Wolfe said that the IMF wants the government to rationalize its expenditure and focus more on health and education.
Seventy-nine ministers of culture from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries will meet in Santo Domingo from the 11 to 21 October. The event is being held to coincide with the First Cultural Festival of ACP countries. The European Union's cultural policies will be discussed during the meeting.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (AMET) has just announced the delivery of 300 hi-tech communication phones that will allow their officers to check on licenses and registrations. The officers who will be assigned this gear have been undergoing training at the ITLA technology park in Boca Chica. Experts from Spain are due to arrive this week to begin the installation of the radios needed to make things work. The newspaper also reported that AMET traffic cops issued 85,000 summonses during August, up 20% from July. Most infractions were for not having an up-to-date inspection sticker. These were followed for obstructing traffic at intersections. AMET chief Jose Sigfrido Fernandez Fadul reminded drivers that if a summons is not responded to in a timely fashion, no other documents such as passports or "cedulas" can be renewed. The general pointed out that nearly 10,000 infractions were for drivers running red lights.
The Dominican government has revealed what it is calling "The Integrated Plan for the Electric Sector" during a seminar at the Metro Country Club in Juan Dolio. The idea of the plan is to end all blackouts by 2012 and reduce the cost of electricity by 46%. With President Leonel Fernandez looking on, members of the Committee for the Recovery of the Electricity System show just how the nation could achieve reliable electricity in just six years. Representatives from all of the main industrial and commercial sectors were present as CDEEE administrator Radhames Segura explained how the electricity rates currently pegged at 25.8 cents of a dollar per kilowatt/hour would fall to 13.8 cents by 2012. Much of the plan revolves round reducing the use of petroleum-based fuels, with the possible exception of natural gas. Huge external financing would be needed, but no figures were revealed. The two coal-fired units were again mentioned although nothing has been started and no money deposited as a performance bond, in contractual violation. A key factor for lowering the price of electricity and obtaining reliability will be the renegotiation of the existing contracts with the IPPs. Another hypothesis called for a stable dollar-peso relationship over the coming years as well as a stable Consumer Price Index in order to achieve the aims set forth. In a somewhat confusing note, Diario Libre reports that the National Inter-connected Electricity System has just completed one year without any nation-wide blackouts.
Meanwhile, former senator for Santo Domingo and PLD party director Jose Tomas Perez said that if the country decides to penalize electricity theft, it also has to penalize what he described as the widespread fraud Dominicans are subjected to by the power distribution companies. As reported in Listin Diario, he considered it appropriate that the government should legislate to penalize people who steal electricity, but added that before it can do that, the government should offer a transparent service, with meters that reflect true consumption. "Electricity consumers in this country are victims of a system of fraud by the power distribution companies," he stated.
A huge fraud case in the south of Spain has brought Spanish investigators to the Dominican Republic in search of some of those involved in the EUR 2.6 billion scandal. The ramifications of the fraud are so extensive that the central government was forced to dissolve the municipal council of the city of Marbella last April. Much of the investigation centers on the figure of Carlos Sanchez, a Spanish businessman who is reported to have large hotel interests and benefited from concessions of government-owned hotels in the Samana peninsula. The Spaniard received several concessions during the Hipolito Mejia government, and the man is said to own important holdings in Santo Domingo and in the eastern part of the country, as reported in the Listin Diario.
Many more new cases of dengue fever are being reported, with another 69 last Friday, and the figures for 2006 have now overtaken the totals for the 2005 outbreak. Health authorities have announced an increase in spraying in Santo Domingo's outlying barrios, the focus of most of the cases. Minister of Public Health Bautista Rojas Gomez told Diario Libre reporters that he does not understand why there are more cases than last year. Twenty-nine people have perished from the high fevers, and 126 cases have been diagnosed as pertaining to the hemorrhagic variety of the fever. This number has not risen over the past few days. However, in Santiago where the Minister attended the inauguration of the Center for Dengue at the Corominas Clinic, he admitted that Ministry officials had committed a serious error in not revealing the real numbers of cases reported. In fact, according to El Caribe, the Minister admitted that his people had "hidden information" about the true scale of the outbreak.
No governmental figure has explained just how the Chamber of Deputies took up the contract that would assign all vehicular inspections to a private Spanish firm (ICASUR), especially after President Fernandez asked that the contract be dropped. In September 2005, the President returned the contract to the legislature and asked for it to be revised "in order to improve the terms being offered for the public service". Nonetheless, the contract has not been revised and still contains the clauses that led to its withdrawal from the Chamber of Deputies. One of the clauses imposes a condition on the Internal Revenue Department, stating that the issue of new license plates would be denied if a vehicle did not have the inspection stickers up to date. The government is also under the obligation to write such legislation that will establish the obligatory nature of the inspection process. The contract also violates article 110 of Law 241 which governs all ground transportation in the DR. The article establishes the Director General of Ground Transport as the sole provider of vehicular inspections.
Locally, the car inspection "revista" sticker is regarded as another governmental tax. The tax is readily sold without inspections, and thousands of cars that would not pass inspections, circulate with the stickers.
Writing in yesterday's Diario Libre, Mario Nunez Munoz highlights the country's need for good script writers. He explains that the intention exists, on the part of both the government and the private sector, to develop a national film industry. However, he says that this objective clashes with the reality that while there are good stories to be told, we do not know how to tell them. He points out that every script needs to have a clear presentation of the conflict, develop the theme and a coherent ending. He makes the point, criticizing the fact that while recent Dominican movies "Lilis" and "Viajeros" are two good stories to be told, they fail from the point of good drama, to build a truly believable and coherent tale. "Without a real effort to provide the start up movie industry with consistent drama-building tools, there will not be such an industry," writes Nunez. He calls for the establishment of courses, workshops, contests and recognition that may attract writers from other disciplines and train new talents to generate a market for script writers.
Dominican music star Juan Luis Guerra has been against language crossover for many years. It now appears that he is ready to reach out to the English-speaking market and will record two tracks in English. Listin Diario speculates that "Medicine for my soul," and "Something Good" will be Guerra's first two English-language tracks. According to the guavaberry.net website that follows Guerra's career, the next Guerra CD will include two tracks in a language other than Spanish. However, this is not the first time he has recorded in English.
Guerra, a graduate of the Berklee School of Music in Boston, is fluent in English. For more on Guerra, see http://www.guavaberry.net/idiomas/english/jlg_en_bio.htm
Hola Gente TV show released the names of those who their viewers consider the five most beautiful Dominican men and women, as reported in the Listin Diario. These are Francisco Sanchis (TV show host and producer), Carlos Alfredo (actor, singer and TV man), Jose Guillermo Cortines (actor and singer), Eddy Herrera (merengue band director and singer) and Frank Reyes (bachata singer). The five women are Jatnna Tavarez (TV producer who lost 70 pounds last year), Mia Taveras (candidate for DR to Miss Universe), Mariela Encarnacion (TV host and actor), Milagros German (former Miss DR and TV host/producer) and Georgina Duluc (model).
The Village People, of YMCA, In the Navy and Macho Man fame, will be in Santo Domingo for a one-off performance at the Hard Rock Cafe in the Colonial zone on Saturday, 30 September. The group, which dominated dance floors in the 70s and early 80s, has sold more than 65 million copies of their recordings worldwide. For more on events in the Dominican Republic, see http://www.dr1.com/calendar
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