Outspoken economist Andres Dauhajre and Minister of Industry and Commerce Angel Lockward locked horns on a Friday morning talk show, Hola Matina, over the government’s authorization of a 20% increase in consumer power bills. While uninvited, Lockward surprisingly attended the program to dispute Dauhajre who was the scheduled guest. Dauhajre opposes the government decision to pass on to consumers the so-called power price subsidy starting 1 July. He says this can’t be called a subsidy because Dominicans pay one of the highest electricity rates in the Western Hemisphere. Lockward says he is following the President’s orders, and that the government needs the money. He forecast that the cost of power would eventually drop as more efficient generators go into service. Dauhajre says this will increase inflation, the cost of consumer goods and services, and spur social unrest at a time when the country is about to issue its first sovereign bonds on international financial markets. Dauhajre is in charge of the governmental office that would issue the bonds.
