DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

DR1.com is the leading English news source in the Dominican Republic for over 30 years.

Showing articles from the past 7 days. To read past articles, visit our DR1.com Daily News Forum.

News · Click here for DR1 Travel News

Accessing credit continues to be a costly challenge for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or Mipymes in the Dominican Republic. Borrowing for a small business is much more costly than financing a new vehicle — despite a generally stable monetary environment. Car financing rates of 9.75% are available, up from around 8% in past years.

Yet, at the close of the first quarter of 2025, the average interest rate for small business loans stood at a low of 14.3% and an average interest rate of 16.7% as of March 2025, according to figures from the Superintendence of Banks, El Dia reports.

This disparity persists even though the Central Bank has held its policy rate steady throughout 2025, following a cumulative reduction of 125 basis points in the second half of 2024. These moves were expected to ease borrowing costs, but the data shows little relief for small business...

To read past articles, visit our DR1.com Daily News Forum.