Lisandro Macarrulla, the head of the Industrial Association of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), justified the private sector?s US-dollar debts in an interview in the El Caribe newspaper. Macarrulla was reacting to comments made by Julio Cross, the Superintendent of Banks, who had suggested that the current crisis in the exchange rate was due in large part to the private sector and its habit of contracting debts in dollars.
Macarrulla explained that many businesses had been forced to borrow in foreign currency because of the exorbitant interest rates in local banks. According to the AIRD president, local interest rates were so high they would have put many companies out of business.
Andres Dauhajre, the head of the National Union of Businesses (UNE), said that the move by the Central Bank to prohibit loans in dollars to businesses that did not produce dollars came too late.