Several industry associations yesterday added their voices to the call for the national government to cut its rolls. The President of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), Celso Marranzini, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, in its report on the Dominican economy, had already urged a cut in public sector employment. They noted that when he came to office, President Fern?ndez had promised to cut government rolls by 25%. Instead, figures provided by the Central Bank and Education and Culture Ministry show that government employment has actually risen during the Fern?ndez regime from a total of 282,920 in 1996 to 305,861 by the end of 1998. The portion of these figures under direct control of the central government were 222,724 in 1996 and 244,577 in 1998. Supporting the CONEP and EIU position yesterday were the presidents of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), Nassin Alemany, of the Association of Industrialists of Herrera (AEIH), Ignacio M?ndez, and of the Association of Enterprises and Industries of Haina, Andr?s Julio Grull?n.
