Devaluing The Dollar

I agree

mharshman said:

Devaluing the dollar doesn't treat the root cause of the Dominican Republics economic imbalances. As the dollar continues to sink against the peso the benefits will never quite match the expectations.
A good government does not debase currency to fix its problems, it uses statesmanship.
A falling dollar is unlikly to fix the DR,s economy and will certainly curtail imports and tourism which will continue to effect all sectors of the economy and curtail any possibility of growth.
Disappointing that the Fernandez Government does not get it.

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Me and some of my friends are reconsidering our trip in late Jan. due to the falling value of the dollar. The trip isn't the great value it was when we started planning it a couple of months ago. As it stands now we may just skip it and go to Cancun. We shall see. I really like the D.R. and would love for my friends to experience some of what it has to offer but the economics are starting to make it a hard sell with some of my friends. We shall see how it all plays out.

portcityplaya said:

Me and some of my friends are reconsidering our trip in late Jan. due to the falling value of the dollar. The trip isn't the great value it was when we started planning it a couple of months ago. As it stands now we may just skip it and go to Cancun. We shall see. I really like the D.R. and would love for my friends to experience some of what it has to offer but the economics are starting to make it a hard sell with some of my friends. We shall see how it all plays out.

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I would say this would be a good thing if Mexico didn't suck as much as it does. You wont save money and it wont be as much fun.

I guess it depends on the person.

Everyone is entitled to their on opinion. Since I am dealing with a group the majority rules. For the money, Cancun wins out with most of them since most have never been to the D.R. and were willing to give it a try becuase it was cheaper but if they will have to shell out the same amount of money most would rather go back to a spot they are comfortable with. Some are just afraid to take a chance I guess. But no matter, the main driving force behind the decision for them is the Dollar to Peso value and how it continues to slide.

It is a mistake which is already costing the DR

The devaluing of the dollar, although it may give the government benefits in other ways, is already costing the DR plenty. Tourism will go down and the Free Zones are letting thousands of people go, are not giving year-end benefits, fruit baskets or parties to those that stay and this has a negative effect across the board. Some companies are closing down altogether.

In my particular case, my company is opening up an additional building in one of the free zones we use but we are taking a big loss in the pesos we get in exchange in order to set-up the infrastructure. 100-200 families will live from this additional business in addition to another 400-500 that already depend on our production in the country. We will stick it out at least from 3 to 5 more years in the DR, regardless, but we are the exception.

The government's well-earned goodwill will rapidly deteriorate since 3 of the country's 4 legs are free zones, tourism and nearly 3 billion dollars sent by Dominicans living abroad, all of whose income has deteriorated versus pricing in the DR. It would all be otherwise if prices moved in proportion to the exchange rate but they only go up and now everyone earning greenbacks is down, in real value, to half of what they had before. Something better be done quick.

Escott said:

I would say this would be a good thing if Mexico didn't suck as much as it does. You wont save money and it wont be as much fun.

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That's exactly what I was thinking. Cancun is such a bore.


I see the dollar is higher against most foreign currencies today...well, the REAL ones anyway ( Yen, Euro, Pound Sterling). The price of gold plummeted this morning too which is a sign that economists are anticipating strengthening in the dollar so maybe it has hit it's bottom and we will see a reversal. However, I don't think this makes a damn bit of difference with regards to the peso because the people who control the exchange rate are manipulating it for their benefit and I doubt that the weaker dollar has played into the equation at all. However, I can only HOPE that a stronger dollar can help improve the rate down the road.

Remember last year when all of us with dollars were cheering in exuberance as the peso was spiraling downward?? No one with dollars minded the crazy rate of inflation as long as we had dollars and the peso kept weakening. I don't think any of us imagined the squeeze that was coming as it was walked back up.

Larry

USD is appreciating because first the europians are warning bush not to play stupid with the dollar, and the japanese are threatening that they will start selling their USD holdings if the dollar continuous to slide south.

but the important thing is: WHAT WILL LEONEL DO??!!! i wanna vacation in the DR not japan!!

portcityplaya said:

Me and some of my friends are reconsidering our trip in late Jan. due to the falling value of the dollar. The trip isn't the great value it was when we started planning it a couple of months ago. As it stands now we may just skip it and go to Cancun. We shall see. I really like the D.R. and would love for my friends to experience some of what it has to offer but the economics are starting to make it a hard sell with some of my friends. We shall see how it all plays out.

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You don't really love the DR. Oh common please!

Anybody who truly loves this island would spare no expense at experiencing it!

What you like is having money in your pocket (and I don't blame you). But you don't really like the DR, at least not as much as you are making it seem. People who truly love it may complaint, but they still get on that plane and come down.