Archive News

The Nearshore Call Center opened its newest facility in the DR this week. Eddy Martinez, director of the Center for Exports and Investment (CEI-RD) represented the government at the event. The call center, located in Villa Juana, has a capacity for 1,830 operators, making it the largest center of its kind in the DR and one of the largest in the Caribbean. The company first started working in the DR in 2006, with just 100 operator positions. The new center is expected to provide an employment boost for Santo Domingo, especially Villa Juana and the surrounding areas.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

The informal sector has become a "formal" economic sector in the DR. Not so much for the way it operates, but the way it has generated jobs, revenues and rate at which it has grown. According to Lisandro Macarulla, the president of the National Business Council (CONEP), 545,000 new jobs were created in the DR between 2000 and 2008, but of those 160,000, or only 29% were created by the formal sector of the economy. This means that 71% (385,000) of all jobs created in the previous eight years were in the informal sector.
Macarulla was speaking at the Forum on Local Development and Jobs, organized y the Ministry of Labor at Santo Domingo's Hotel Intercontinental V Centenario. He said that despite the Gross Domestic Product having grown 40% from 2004 to present, the growth has not taken place in the traditional productive sectors: these jobs have been created in trade and service sectors, as well as in government.
Macarulla quoted sources reported by the Central Bank and added that the growth of the informal sector is a concern for the DR. The informal sector involves micro-enterprises, farming and small-scale services, where wages, productivity and levels of social protection are generally much lower than in the formal sector. Much of this work is also temporary and part-time, with less job stability and benefits to employees.
Also speaking during the forum, Labor Minister Max Puig said that the unemployment rate is at 14.9%, and every year 100,000 young people enter the job-seeking arena. He said the authorities are working to reduce unemployment to 13.9%, the level in 2000.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

The Dominican ambassador in Chile, Pablo Marinez, has told Listin Diario that there is a good market for Dominican rum, coffee and cigar exports in Chile. He highlighted the many air connections, with direct flights by Lan Chile from Santiago de Chile to Punta Cana and connections with Copa Airlines through Panama and Taca through Lima, Peru. He said Chilean tourism to the DR has been increasing. In his opinion, Dominicans should learn more about Chile. "Chile is an example of what the DR should be. It has strong institutions and laws that are applied to all equally, without privileges," he said. He informed that the embassy was organizing a mission of Chilean business leaders to the DR and stated that for there to be more trade, more information on both Chilean and Dominican markets needs to be exchanged. Recently, the Dominican Embassy took part in the "Caribbean: Business Opportunities for Chile" seminar, organized by Chilean export promotion body Pro-Chile.
Sergio Ibarra, president of the Dominican Republic-Chile Chamber of Commerce believes that there would be more trade if the DR would sign a free trade agreement with Chile as it has with Central America and the Caribbean, the United States and Europe. He thinks that manufacturing in the DR could be advantageous to Chilean companies that want to export to those markets.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

Minster of Economy, Planning and Development Temistocles Montas is defending the government's increasing debt by saying that its overall purpose is to stimulate the Dominican economy. Montas added that the government would continue taking on debt as a strategy in the face of the international crisis. He added that the government could not just stand by helplessly. Montas was responding to comments by Manuel Diez Cabral, president of the DR Industries Association (AIRD), who commented that the increased debt could put the country's relative macroeconomic stability in danger. Diez commented that the public debt is at US$18.2 billion and that agreements on the way with the IMF and other multilateral and private banks could add another US$4 billion. He said that already the US$18.2 billion debt is 39.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (estimated at US$46 billion).
Montas argued that the United States is currently increasing its debt to stay above water.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

Rafael Camilo, the director general of Customs (DGA), says Customs collections in 2009 are forecast to be 12% less than last year. Collections are expected to be down RD$10 billion and RD$12 billion by year's end. Camilo says that all imports, from appliances to vehicles and everything in between, have fallen since 2008.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

Taiwan has agreed to contribute US$100 million to the DR from 2009-2012. Half is a non-refundable donation. Taiwan Ambassador Isaac Tsai and Economy & Planning Minister Temistocles Montas, together with Alejandra Liriano representing the Ministry of Foreign Relations signed the memorandum of understanding on the distribution of the aid. Government entities that will receive chapters of the donation are the First Lady's Office, the ministries of Public Health, Foreign Relations, Women, and Interior & Police. Part of the funding will also go to the Center for Export and Investment, the Border Development Department and the National Statistics Office.

28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

President Leonel Fernandez has announced plans for signing of an agreement for technology and education exchanges with Vietnam. The Presidency reports that the agreement also seeks to increase trade and will contain provisions on transport and energy generation.
The announcement was made by Fernandez who met with a Vietnamese delegation led by Nguyen Hong Quan, Minister of Construction, at the Presidential Palace yesterday. The government and Vietnamese business delegation was in the DR to study the progress of the Dominican economy and explore possible investment opportunities.
Fernandez highlighted the DR's willingness to strengthen ties with Vietnam saying, "We in the DR feel a deep admiration and a great respect for the Vietnamese people," as reported in Hoy.
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28 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL) has approved a restructuring plan for Tricom, which now places most of its shares in the hands of foreign companies. The restructuring plan, originally approved on 21 October, allows for Tricom's main creditors to become the telecommunications company's main stockholders. The new stockholders in the company include Amzak Capital Management, a US based company and Inversiones Bahia Ltd., a Panamanian-based company. Other stockholders will include local investment groups Banco Multiple Leon, Grupo Financiero Nacional and the Leon Jimenes Group.

27 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

Eddy Martinez, director of the Center for Exports and Investments (CEI-RD), says he is hopeful that Dominican exports will climb by at least 18%, but expects Dominican exports to continue in the red. Martinez hopes that exports will go from -28% in the third quarter to at least -10% by the end of 2009. He also said that foreign investment this year could reach US$2 billion.

27 October 2009 - DR1 Daily News

According to the president of the Dominican Republic Industrial Association, Manuel Diez Cabral, the public debt could reach as much as US$24 or US$25 billion, nearly 50% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In his opinion, the foreign indebtedness could put the relatively stable macro-economic situation of the country at risk, and he said that the greatest danger is the lack of political will to change the economic model. Diez Cabral was speaking at a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the Dominican Traders Federation (FDC).
FDC president Ivan de Jesus Garcia said that the government should gradually phase out the 0.15% tax on checks and money transfers. He used the example of a million peso loan at 18%, which would pay RD$500 a day in interest. However if a supplier were to be paid one million by check, a RD$1,500 charge would be added, or the equivalent of three days interest. As a result, according to Garcia, this tax is forcing traders to use more informal commercial methods, since businesses that work on slender profit margins such as warehouses and distributors see RD$10 million in sales paying RD$15,000 in this tax, which is the cost of two employees. Garcia said that he and his group recognize the fact that in the face of the current decrease in government collections it is simply impossible to eliminate this tax, but that at least it should be removed over the next three years so that traders may operate with more transparency and fluidity.
In a further suggestion, Garcia pointed out that the Social Security fund will end the year with RD$100 billion, RD$70 billion contributed by the commercial sector and RD$30 billion from employees. He suggested that some of this money should be spent on constructing low-cost housing for employees who contribute to the SS. Finally, Garcia questioned the system of workers' severance pay and the fact that the banks are loaning money at 18% and 30% but are only paying 4% interest on certificates of deposit.

26 October 2009 - DR1 2009