An editorial in El Caribe newspaper today adds up the numerous loans taken by the Mejia administration in its first 11 months in office: Spanish commercial banks: RD$437 millionItalian, German, Amrom, Jamco project: US$224 millionBelgium loan for hospitals: US$175 millionItalian-Livornio Ozama project: US$188 millionPlan Renove for transport: US$150 millionThat comes to US$1.174 billion already signed and passed by Congress. When you add to this the US$500 million in sovereign bonds, the total becomes US$1.674 billion. Central Bank statistics show that the foreign debt was US$3.675 billion at the end of 2000. This means that in its first 11 months in government, the Mejia administration has increased the foreign debt by 45%. El Caribe points out that the older debt is mainly long term and at low interest rates as it was borrowed primarily from multilateral lending organizations such as the IDB, the World Bank and the US government, with only 19% owed to private banks. What is most serious, says El Caribe, is that the new debt is owed to private sources and was taken on at commercial rates in most cases without a grace period and without any transparency or requirement to hold tenders for the purchase of goods to be paid for with the borrowed funds. El Caribe says there can be no economic or political justification for this massive borrowing program from private sources. The newspaper urges the political leaders of the PRD to think twice and put a stop to the projects.
