Powerful voices have joined the United Nations Development Program (PNUD)in discerning the need for a reallocation of the country’s GNP in support of social welfare programs. Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, stated that PNUD report titled "Overcoming Human Poverty," which was released yesterday, reflected "indisputable reality," in claiming that state expenditures tilt in favor the middle and upper classes to the detriment of poor people. The report’s call for a boost in expenditures for social welfare from the current 6% or 7% to 14% of GNP is appropriate, said the Catholic prelate. Each of the major political parties also aligned themselves with the PNUD findings. The PRD candidate, Hipolito Mejia, declared that the report confirms that the government’s claim of having achieved unprecedented levels of macro-economic growth is "farcical." Mejia noted that the PNUD report echoes an earlier one prepared by the International Development Bank, which posited similar conclusions concerning the widening breech between rich and poor. The PRSC, too, found confirmation in the PNUD report of its own contentions. "The government has forgotten poor people," according to Jacinto Peynado, the PRSC vice-presidential candidate and Luis Toral, its national campaign manager. In a PRSC government, they said, "the bulk of the state’s resources" would be devoted to housing, health, education and environmental programs. For his part, Danilo Medina, presidential candidate of the ruling PLD party, promised that social welfare programs would merit 55% of the budget of a Medina administration, representing some 12% of GNP.
