President Leonel Fernandez highlighted the economic achievements of his government on Monday. Speaking at the Gran Teatro Cibao on occasion of 16 August, national historic holiday that also marks the his third year in government, President Fernández pinpointed the sustained growth with low inflation during the past three years. He spoke of the increases in tax collections, spending by consumers, domestic and foreign investment, urban and rural infrastructure construction, regardless of the damages caused by Hurricane Georges. "Never before, in the Republican history of the nation, a government had done so much in such a short time. Never had things been better than now," said Fernández. He said that citizens today consume eight pounds more of rice, six more pounds of beans, four more pounds of chicken, and 10 liters more of milk than in 1996, when he took office. He said that the minimum wage has gone from RD$2,010 in 1996 to RD$2,895 in 1999, together with an increase in the buying power of the population. He highlighted how the price of a plantain, one of the main staples of the Dominican diet, is at the lowest levels in the past ten years. He said that prices of rice, beans, garlic, onions, potatoes, yucca, sweet potatoes are at levels lower than when his party, the PLD, reached power in 1996.
