Archive News

The Liberian government has shown interest in signing bilateral agreements with the DR in the areas of tourism, culture and communications. Lawrence K. Bropleh, Information, Culture & Tourism Minister of Liberia, who will be representing Liberia at the 16 August Presidential inaugural, says the DR and Liberia share a common history and many interests. The West African nation is rich in natural resources like gold, iron, diamonds, bauxite, rubber, wood, coffee and cacao. The country also has 600 kilometers of beaches.

15 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Edwin Ruiz of Clave newspaper writes today about the contradiction between the millions invested in the "electronic government" of President Fernandez and the backlog in publishing economic statistics. He makes the point that the Budget Department (Digepres) has a freedom of information access department but this is not yet operating, four years after this was ordered in Law 2000-04 on Citizens' Right to Freedom of Information. He points out that the government has not published the monthly budget execution reports since February. And the information on government spending is only available up to April 2008, when this information was readily available when the country was under the International Monetary Fund's stand by arrangement. He comments that the muteness of the financial authorities has the country in the dark as to what is the true fiscal deficit for this year. Ruiz establishes that Dominican Law 423-06 (J section) orders the publishing of the information 30 days after the completion of the budget period. Another law that he says has not been fulfilled is Law 5-07 that created the Integrated Financial Administration System (SIEFE) 5-07 that orders the government to make available information on budgetary execution in a clear, uniform and transparent way.
Economist Miguel Ceara-Hatton of the United Nations Human Development Office estimates the deficit of the central government at RD$52.7 billion during 2008, to which the quasi-fiscal deficit (of the Central Bank) would have to be added bringing this to RD$75 billion. Ceara-Hatton recalls that the government on several occasions has said that the public finances are balanced.
Clave newspaper says that the lack of transparency has spread to the Central Bank. As of 12 August, the Central Bank had only published a report for the first quarter of 2008 and the definitive for 2007. The Central Bank website indicates that the updates would be available at most 45 days after the period expired.

14 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Celso Marranzini, former president of the National Business Council (CONEP) backs the dollarization of the Dominican economy. California-based Dominican economist Victor Canto is a strong advocate of dollarization. Marranzini says dollarization would limit the Monetary Board's discretional control. "We would save a lot on the enormous salaries of the Monetary Board," said Marranzini. Marranzini also argued that the country's inflation and interest rates would be that of the US, and there would no longer be fears of devaluation. He also argued that Dominicans are already familiar with the dollar as a currency. Not all have jumped on the dollarization bandwagon, though. Porfirio Garcia Fernandez, former UASD Dean, has rejected saying the country is not ready for dollarization because the country does not have sufficient international reserves.

14 August 2008 - DR1 Daily

The trade deficit between the US and the DR in the first semester of the year grew by 81.84% in comparison to the same period in 2007. According to Hoy the trade deficit went from US$726 million to US$1.32 billion due to an increase in imports, and the relatively-strong Dominican peso. Imports were up from US$2.8 billion to US$3.3 billion. At the same time, exports were down 4.6%, going from US$2.1 billion to US$1.97 billion. The trade deficit is a recent phenomenon considering that in 2004 the DR had a trade surplus with the US of US$14 million. Compare this to the June 2008 alone monthly deficit of US$220 million. Since the implementation of DR-CAFTA Free Trade Agreement, the trade deficit has reached US$2.87 billion, according to Department of Commerce statistics.

14 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Central Bank reports inflation was 1.62% in July. July inflation is attributed to rising oil and food prices. Accumulated inflation for the first seven months of the year is at 9.31%.
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/publicaciones_economicas/cipcm/cipcm2008-07.pdf

13 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

The export of apparel manufactured or assembled in the Dominican Republic fell 12.7% in volume exported and 25.5% in the value of the exports for the first six months of the year. The fall in the sale of apparel also reflects some of the diversification that is taking place in the industrial free zones nationwide. Today, the business mix of Dominican free zones is much more diverse. From 60% apparel years back, apparel companies now only make up 32% of free zone companies. Others are health products at 18.4%, electric products at 16.6%, jewelry at 14.5% and services at 13.1%. Tobacco products (primarily cigars), footwear and marketing services make up the rest.
According to the latest report from the Major Shippers Report, the Dominican Republic exported 180.7 million square meters of apparel to the US market during the first half of the year, a 12.7% decrease from a year ago. (Costa Rica also registered a loss of 21.7%).
The report also states that on a worldwide level there was a 3.84% fall in volume and a 4% drop is value in the textile trade. Of the countries associated with the DR-CAFTA agreement, only Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua increased their textile exports. Of interest to the sector is the fact that the report states that China faced increasing workers' demands for higher wages, and saw their volume and value fall, although by only 7% and 6% respectively.

13 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

The Chamber of Deputies fast-tracked the approval for the supplementary budget in time for the 16 August inaugural ceremonies. Members of the opposition PRD party were not in the chamber and there was a vote against from the bloc of PRSC deputies, but their presence made the needed quorum to pass the bill. The approved legislation now goes to the Executive Branch for signing and publication.

13 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Celebration of the recent Dominican Presidential elections is the latest excuse as to why a free trade agreement between Taiwan and the DR hasn't been signed. Taiwanese Vice economic Minister Eric Chiang says that Dominican officials blamed the presidential elections for limiting time for negotiations between both countries. This is not the first time Dominican authorities have failed to continue trade talks, which originally began in 2006. Taiwanese officials say that Dominican officials say they want to prioritize trade talks with Mexico and Canada. Chiang claims that some in the Dominican business sector rejected an agreement with Taiwan because it would affect business. Bilateral trade totaled US$415.19 million last year, with only US$55.7 million Dominican exports to Taiwan. Taiwan argues that it could be the port of entry for Dominican products to Asia, including Continental China. Chiang says Taiwan has already signed FTAs with Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
According to former Taiwanese ambassador in the DR Eduardo Chen, the rejection by the business sector was key in paralyzing the bilateral trade talks. Taiwanese authorities say that recently the parties met with a view to reinitiating the process. Chiang says it is likely that talks will resume after Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou visits the country for President Leonel Fernandez's 16 August inaugural.
www.dr1.com/trade/categories/Trading-Partners/Asia/Taiwan/

08 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

According to Microsoft Dominicana, the informatics sector will create 4,000 new jobs and generate close to a RD$1 billion in taxes in the next four years. This will make the IT sector one of the biggest revenue-generators for the Dominican economy. This year alone Microsoft looks to generate RD$900 million through the businesses that carry their products. Currently the IT industry employs 13,000 workers. Of these, Microsoft employs 7,000 workers. According to Listin Diario, the DR's IT market is dominated by hardware, 74% and software 11%, and that less the 0.6% of the GDP is dedicated towards IT development compared to the world average of 2.5%.

07 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News

Taiwan ambassador Eduardo Chen is optimistic that President Ma Ying-jeou's one-day visit for the 16 August Fernandez inaugural will be positive step and will help push forward talks leading to a DR-Taiwan free trade agreement. Talks began in 2005, but Ambassador Chen says they have stalled due in part to opposition from local business groups, as reported in Diario Libre. The Santo Domingo and Santiago chambers of commerce oppose the treaty on the grounds that the Dominican Republic practically sells nothing to Taiwan while importing millions worth, and thus has little to gain with a FTA. As reported in Diario Libre, bilateral trade totaled US$415.19 million last year, but of this only US$55.7 million were in Dominican exports. Instead, local business groups favor strengthening trade with traditional partners such as the United States, Canada and Europe, countries from which the DR has much more to gain.

07 August 2008 - DR1 Daily News