The Listín Diario newspaper explains the government’s dilemma regarding the 2002 National Budget. Sectors within the government want to establish a RD$70 billion budget, an increase of RD$5 billion over this year’s budget. Originally the government had said the budget would be RD$65 billion, the same as in 2001 to take into account the fact that tax revenues in 2001 fell short of initial estimates. The dilemma is that if the budget is held at RD$65 billion, the service of the foreign and internal debt will make up 25% of the budget, which could be taken as a bad sign by international markets. The newspaper says that Minister of Finance Fernando Alvarez Bogaert is in favor of the RD$65 billion budget, while economist Andres Dauhajre, in charge of the sovereign bond negotiations, wants the budget set at RD$70 billion. President Hipolito Mejía has the last word.
