Business community spokesmen protest that the present legislature will end on Wednesday, 1 August, without congressmen passing the tariffs reform that has the consensual support of all sectors. The package of reform bills in Congress is especially necessary to make the nation’s industry competitive. The bills were first submitted four years ago by the President Fernández. Fundación SemPer has lead a last-minute drive to urge the congressmen to pass them now and now wait for the new Congress. The new congress will have several new members, as many PRD party congressmen will be assigned jobs in the Hipólito Mejía cabinet. business spokesmen fear that the bills will be further delayed in order to give time to the new legislators to study these. The delays affect the Dominican Republic from benefitting from the free trade agreements signed with the Caribbean and Central America and that were promoted by the Dominican government. Included among the reforms is a bill that would reduce tariffs to a maximum 20%. SemPer urges that the bills be approved now by Congress and signed into law by then President Hipólito Mejía on 16 August.
