DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The Dominican government through its commercial bank (Banco de Reservas) for decades has facilitated low cost borrowing for new cars in the Dominican Republic. The results are showing. Diario Libre reports that the DR now ranks third in Latin America for vehicles per capital.

With a population of over 11 million, the country now boasts 6,081,697 registered vehicles as of September 2023, a nearly 25% increase over the last four years.

This surge in vehicle ownership, outpacing population growth, has led to noticeable traffic congestion in major cities and strained the nation’s otherwise impressive road infrastructure. The Dominican Republic now has 507.8 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, trailing only Argentina (590) and Brazil (521). This stands in contrast to the regional average of 200 vehicles per 1,000 people as reported by the United Nations’ Economic...