El Caribe newspaper today criticizes the decision of the Mejia administration to increase the nation’s foreign debt to purchase 7,000 vehicles for public transport. These include 600 new buses for OMSA service. The newspaper says that the decision is contradictory, especially since the Mejia administration has been critical to similar moves by the past Fernandez administration. "The government of Dr. Fernandez erred by taking on debt with suppliers, foreign government export agencies and the foreign private banking in a not responsible manner But the present government it appears is going about things in the same manner and the proportion of payment of the foreign debt in 2005 that will be attributed to engineer Mejia could be even greater," reads the editorial. The newspaper is especially critical regarding the purchase of vehicles for taxi service. It says that while these vehicles are reportedly "credit sales", in the past two years the experience has been that even when the debt is managed by private banking the recovery of the money is very low. The newspaper urges that the President of the Republic, the Monetary Junta and the board of the Banco de Reservas act fast to avoid this situation.
