According to the vice-governor of the Central Bank, F?lix Calvo, a second round of savings certificates is being sold, due to the demand created by the initial offering. These savings certificates carry interest rates of 32% (30
days), 34% (90 days) and 36% (180 days). As reported in Hoy newspaper, Calvo, in an impromptu interview, let slip the fact that the Central Bank had sold RD$12 billion worth of certificates, as opposed to the RD$10 billion originally announced. The
reporters pounced on Calvo?s words, obliging him to admit that the original issuance of RD$10 billion was ?increased? by RD$2 billion. He then said that the Monetary Board had approved a second issuance of RD$10 billion last week, of which only RD$8
billion remains.
According to El Caribe?s coverage on the savings bonds, Calvo said that the new placement conforms to ?monetary policy.?
The reaction to the announcement was swift. Pedro Silverio, the head of the Cenantillas economic think-tank at Pontificia Universidad Cat?lica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), said that the new sale of certificates by the Central Bank was illegal, since the
Central Bank was competing with the private sector in a wrongful manner. ?[The new issuance] continues to violate Monetary Law,? said Silverio, specifying that the certificates constitute unfair competition for the commercial banks.
For their part, however, the commercial financial institutions are said to be among the buyers of the Central Bank certificates.
Both Silverio and Calvo spoke after the conference on banking crises in Latin America, featuring Victor Bulmer-Thomas of the Royal Institute for International Affairs of the United Kingdom and sponsored by the PUCMM.
Meanwhile, Hoy newspaper publishes a brief in which the legal defense counsel of former Baninter bank president Ram?n B?ez Figueroa alleges the vice governor of the Central Bank appeared on the payroll of Baninter. According to the communiqu?, the
Central Bank executive received a monthly stipend of RD$130,000 for his economic advisory services until 24 March 2003.