The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Dominican Republic have reached an agreement on the IMF's program for 2007. According to a brief note from the Dominican Central Bank, IMF country representative Eric Offerdahl said that the IMF is confident that they will see important advances in the implementation of a series of policy measures. Offerdahl also says in the note that the monetary funds directors will meet again on January 24 in order to review the fifth and sixth overviews of the Stand-by Accord and an extension of the agreement that will last until 2008. According to the original proposals, the Dominican Republic was to receive US$670 million, but so far the country has received just US$365 million.
After nine tries and a six-hour meeting, the President and members of various Dominican economic sectors finally put their signatures to an agreement that will allow for the start up of Family Health Insurance under the Social Security System. The agreement included the re-convening of the National Council for Social Security and the nomination of the new council members. The list of names to fill the council seats will have to be ready by 31 December at the latest. The signatories included President Fernandez, Labor Minister Jose Ramon Fadul, Elena Viyella de Paliza, Radhames Martinez Aponte, and other dignitaries. Salary levels were established for primary care and for subsidized care. For subsidized care, a salary level of RD$2,176.10 was established. Those present at the meeting also agreed to restructure the Dominican Institute of Social Security (IDSS), currently the sole provider of health services to most workers.
Reporter Kleiner Lopez, who works for Diario Libre, gives an insiders' look at the meeting that resulted in the signing of the social security agreement. According to Lopez, the meeting ended at 11pm, and some of the signatories had complained that Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado had kept them at work with just candy drops and water since five o'clock in the afternoon. At the end of the session, most of those present were satisfied with the agreement. The finished document was announced at a ceremony at the PUCMM's Santo Tomas de Aquino campus in Santo Domingo. Apparently only the members of the CONEP were on the lookout for "errors" in the document. After the opening remarks by Monsignor Nunez Collado, the finished document was read and due to a typist's error, a paragraph on page two of the document was omitted. This was the paragraph that dealt with the very important issues relating to the Social Security Council and the new members who would substitute the superintendent of health and labor risks and the general manager of the council. Once this point was settled, the 11 industrial, political and labor leaders signed the document, a process that took over half an hour. At last Monsignor Nunez brought out the food: Serrano ham, Brie, grapes, strawberries and rolls.
The Senate of the Dominican Republic passed the President's tax correction proposals last night with some variations on the original suggestions. With neither the PRD nor the PRSC senators present, the PLD-dominated Senate passed the proposals quite easily after making some alterations to the taxes on fuels, alcoholic beverages and gambling. Diesel fuel will be subject to an additional RD$3 per gallon, regular gasoline will be taxed an additional RD$5 and premium gasoline will get a RD$5 tax break. According to El Caribe, the senators modified Article 38 of the proposal and decided to maintain the current tax status of businesses located along the Dominican-Haitian frontier. These are the industrial free zones covered under Law 28-01. The new proposals also call for a RD$3,000 payment for vehicles between 5 and 10 years old, as a sort of "right to drive" tax. This tax will be adjusted on a yearly basis. Vehicles over ten years of age will pay RD$1,500. Betting establishments will have to pay a 20% tax, also adjustable for inflation, and lottery sales points will pay a RD$31,000 tax. Winnings will be taxed at a rate of 15%. Raw materials for the production and manufacture of medicines for human and animal use will be tax-exempt, as will the transport sector. Alcoholic beverages will pay a 15% ad-valorem tax and cigarettes will pay a 100% ad valorem tax. The bill now moves on to the PLD-dominated Chamber of Deputies.
Minister of Culture Rafael Lantigua has announced that the government plans to build a new National Library. The government closed the Plaza de la Cultura library for remodeling, but then decided that the library was too small. The construction of the new library has been entrusted to the Supervisory Office of Public Works of the State, under engineer Felix Bautista. A tender was not held. The government announced it would be contracting the Caro architecture firm, original designers, and that of architect Gustavo More. Lantigua announced that several important book collections would be purchased and added to the National Library. During the construction process, the books are being transferred to a building on 27 de Febrero Avenue. The Ministry also used the advisory services of Architect James Duda, of the United States Library of Congress, as reported in Hoy.
The Dominican Republic has become a jeepetocracy (yipetocracia), declares businessman Federico A. Martinez, in a contribution to the 19 December edition of Hoy newspaper. According to him, Dominicans change once they get behind the wheel of their luxury SUVs, known here as yipetas. He says that the individual then becomes "me and my yipeta". He points to the fact that while in 2000 there were 40,621 yipetas, by 2005 this number had tripled to 124,802. He says that interestingly, Tax Department (DGII) reports do not include the number of yipetas that are part of the official inventory. He estimates that once these are counted - the Presidency with its 21 ministries, and more than 100 decentralized organizations - there are several thousand more. Martinez mentions the case of one minister who purchased 20 or so luxury SUVs from a friend of his, who had already sold more or less the same amount to his predecessor.
He observes that the British government publishes a section on Propriety and Ethics on its web page, including a list of authorized vehicles that may be assigned to officials of Her Majesty's government: the highest ranks are assigned Rover 75 Connoisseur vehicles.
He mentions that the SUVs used by Dominican government officials have CIF value of US$56,549 to US$67,211. He comments that if the government were to auction off these vehicles, it could collect US$100 million or more, with which it could purchase 2,000 vehicles according to the British government guidelines, and still have millions of dollars left over to tackle poverty.
To read the entire column, go to http://www.tomandoencuenta.blogspot.com
Monday's DR1 news reported that the government's accounting office, the Chamber of Accounts (CC) magistrates, were clearing their desks as they awaited their inevitable substitution, so common in local politics. Last night, the other shoe dropped and, according to El Caribe, the Senate chose the new accountants who will supervise the governments spending. Accountant Andres Terrero will preside over the chamber for the next two years. The new members were selected from a series of choices submitted to the Senate by the President. After some brief discussions surrounding the complaints made by the former members of the CC, the Senate chose Jose Gregorio, Alcides Benjamin Decena Lugo, Freddy Bolivar Almonte Brito, Luis Yepez Suncar, Julio de Beras, Henry Mejia Oviedo, Juan Adalberto Lora Ruiz and Jose Altagracia Macio.
Paulo Herrera Maluf, spokesman for civil society group Participacion Ciudadana, warns that an intensification of the apparent power struggle between President Leonel Fernandez and his former Presidency Minister Danilo Medina for the PLD 2008 presidential nomination would prove very costly for the country. "These contenders will be strongly tempted to fund their aspirations using state resources. Are there conditions in the country so that limits of time and campaign spending can be imposed on the pre-candidates of all party colors?" That remains to be seen, he comments. "What is most likely is that we will witness a long, costly, illegal and incorrect pre-campaign," he forecasts.
Herrera says that the fact that the PLD won a majority in Congress in the 2006 election makes matters even worse. "The struggle between these two gladiators will not only take place in the central government, or in the PLD internal organizations," he writes in Hoy newspaper. "The true ring will be the National Congress," he states, mentioning that the appointment of the Central Electoral board members was the first round in the fight, and was won by Danilo Medina this time around, with the appointment of incumbent judge Roberto Rosario, against President Leonel Fernandez's criteria and statements.
He wonders what will happen when the constitutional reform reaches Congress, which is slanted in favor of Danilo Medina. He mentions the irony that the checks to the President will now come from within his own party.
Business sectors are also concerned. On the occasion of an Association of Industries event, Federation of Industries president Ignacio Mendez told Hoy newspaper reporters that pre-candidacy campaigning has negative effects on government, when government officers give priority to the campaigning over their government roles. "That is an outrage and will continue being the fact that party politics continue being so immersed in government". Jesus Moreno, Herrera Industries Association president advocated that the Electoral Law be met and politicians should begin their campaign six months before the election date, and not two years in advance, as is happening now, so that the government officers can do their jobs.
The new president of the Association of Industries, Manuel Diez Cabral told Hoy when commenting on government officers leaving their jobs to promote presidential re-election: "Well, I believe that when the authorities of this country do that, the economy is affected. That is we should all try to fix the country's principal problems, especially as there are almost two years to go for the next election".
President Leonel Fernandez has announced that he will personally take part in the distribution of Christmas food boxes. The President said he would start the distribution in Elias Pina, San Cristobal and Bani on Wednesday, moving to Monte Cristi, Dajabon and Santiago Rodriguez provinces on Thursday. The official press release says he will end his route with a distribution in Higuey.
Dominican ambassador to Qatar Hugo Guiliani Cury has told Qatari media that the DR could become a transit point for Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) to reach the United States. An American company, AES already imports natural gas for its natural gas power plant located in Andres, Boca Chica, near the site of the proposed LNG plant, and pipes this to plants in Santo Domingo. The AES gas-fired 1,000-megawatt plant imports natural gas from Trinidad & Tobago. The plan would be to construct a re-gasification facility at the same site that is part of the DP World Caucedo multi model trans-shipment port, operated by Dubai Ports International.
Guiliani told the Doha media that the US currently has five LNG receiving terminals and needs to have at least 20 more such facilities to be able to begin receiving Qatari LNG from 2011 onwards. For security reasons, the US may decide not to develop these, and the DR could fill the void for the alternative clean fuel facility, says the Dominican ambassador. Guiliani says that if the expansion takes place, the DR could source natural gas from Qatar as well. "Once Doha has acquired those big LNG vessels, we can get a shipload of LNG (some 225,000 cubic meters) to the DR once every three weeks or every month," said Guiliani. The DP World Caucedo is owned and operated by Dubai Ports International.
There are two main ways of transporting natural gas in large volumes. These are by pipeline in its natural state as a gas, and as a liquid. To liquefy natural gas it must be cooled to very low temperatures - this is the function of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. LNG has the advantage that, when cooled and converted to a liquid, its liquid form reduces its volume 600-fold, and is thus convenient to store and to transport, as long as it remains cold.
According to Chemical & Engineering News, in the face of high US natural gas prices and fears of shrinking supplies, natural gas producers and users are hoping that a bonanza of newly imported liquefied natural gas would lead to a future of price and supply stability and better profits. The plan would be for LNG imports to go from 3% of daily gas use at present to 10% by 2010 and maybe 20% by 2025.
The Intel Company, world leader in the manufacture of computer chips, has expressed interest in President Fernandez's invitation to invest in the Dominican Republic. According to the Center for Exports and Investment (CEI), Intel is planning to invest as much as US$1 billion over the next ten years under the Intel World Ahead program. The initiative includes broadband access for computers and education for students and teachers. According to the CEI, Intel's vice-president, John E. Davies, and Eddy Martinez made the announcement at Las Americas Cybernetic Park.
A beautiful pink Delta Boeing 757 landed at Las Americas International Airport yesterday as part of the campaign for breast cancer awareness carried out by the airline. The Delta Airlines Company has set aside part of this plane's earnings for cancer research. Yesterday's flight brought 174 passengers to Santo Domingo. This is Delta's direct contribution to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and is part of the US$24.3 million that Delta has contributed to cancer research since October.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (AMET) has handed out an average of over 1,700 traffic violation tickets a day over the first eleven and a half months of the year. August was the peak month for tickets with more than 100,000 being handed out. May, which happened to be election month, was the month that saw the fewest, with only 6,500 being issued.
In spite of the headlines, the National Police records show a decrease in homicides for the January to November period. In fact, there were 602 fewer murders during that period in comparison to 2005. The chief of the Police, General Bernardo Santana Paez announced that during the first 11 months of the year, Police records show 1,503 homicides. In 2005, some 2,105 murders were reported. He forecast the year should end with a ratio of 17 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
The police also reported that 2,304 of the 2,696 vehicles reported stolen have been recovered. This year, police records show 2,696 vehicles were stolen.
The chief of police, general Bernardo Santana Paez also reported that the suspected killer of three Chinese children in San Pedro de Macoris has been apprehended, as well as an alleged accomplice. The accused is Ulises Jimenez Gil, the suspected murderer, and his uncle, Adriano Gil Dominguez, a loan shark. According to the police report, the killer gave the money that was stolen from the victims to the uncle to pay off a debt. The police have turned the case over to the prosecutor's office in San Pedro de Macoris.
John Francis Dye, an accused pedophile and fugitive from United States justice was returned to North Carolina to await trial on several counts of child molestation and pedophilia. He was found hiding in San Francisco de Macoris by units of the Dominican Drug Enforcement Agency (DNCD), and extradited on an international warrant.
Colombian songstress and multi-Grammy award winner Shakira, truly "shook" the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium last night. Her concert, part of the Verizon Christmas package, was attended by an estimated 40,000 people. The crowd sung along with the star as she danced and belted out song after hit song. Her tour, called "Oral Fixation" came to a "glorious finale" in Santo Domingo. The 28-year old Colombian changed her attire five times during the show and, according to Diario Libre, she shed energy and a "great vibe" in each and every song. Inevitably, a brief power failure also welcomed the artist, who made light of the situation.
Last night, the Tigres del Licey put an end to their losing streak against the Aguilas Cibaenas with a dramatic ninth inning that left the Aguilas alone on the field. The game was tied when a sacrifice fly permitted the winning run to score from third base. This was the last game between these rivals, the teams with the most wins in Dominican baseball history. The Aguilas won this year's series eight games to two. An Aguilas win would have left them in sole possession of first place as the Azucareros from la Romana defeated the league leading Gigantes del Cibao in San Francisco de Macoris in a tight 2-1 game. With the victory, the Azucareros climbed to within one game of the playoffs, because over in San Pedro de Macoris, the hapless Leones del Escogido enjoyed a rare victory over the Estrellas Orientales, 6-3.
Standings
| Team | W-L | Avg. | Games Behind |
| Gigantes | 30 - 17 | .638 | -- |
| Aguilas | 30 - 17 | .638 | -- |
| Licey | 28 - 19 | .596 | 2.0 |
| Estrellas | 19 - 28 | .404 | 11.0 |
| Azucareros | 18 - 29 | .383 | 12.0 |
| Escogido | 16 - 31 | .340 | 14.0 |
* Santo Domingo, Estadio Quisqueya 7:35pm
Gigantes vs. Licey
* Santiago de los Caballeros, Estadio Cibao 8:30pm
Estrellas vs. Aguilas
* La Romana, Estadio Francisco Micheli 7:35pm
Escogido vs. Azucareros
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