Senator Jose Gonzalez Espinosa says the Senate is approving European and US bank loans that are onerous and overvalued and it is apparent that they are greased by the juicy commissions made by international brokers. He said it is the legislators’ obligation to take care before indebting the nation and endangering the country’s future. “It is true that the country has been taking on international loans. Although apparently at low interest rates, they are of high cost to the country because everything that money will buy has been overvalued and thus the interest rates are much higher,” he criticized. The El Siglo report says Congress has passed RD$5.7 billion in loans from the start of the government in August 2000 to May 2001. On the sovereign bonds issue, he commented, “For some people the bonds are attractive if the interest rate is not more than 10-11%, but if we are talking about 13, 14 and 15%, the cost would be too high for a nation like ours that has a trade balance with a US$6 billion deficit.”
