The general coordinator of the Proyecto Presidencial
Hip?lito (PPH), Agriculture Minister Eligio J?quez said that the PPH and the
economic team of the Mej?a administration would manage a US$100-million (RD$3.4
billion) loan-funded social program during the next 12 months. The funding would
reportedly come from the National Budget and contributions made by the
International Monetary Fund and the Inter American Development Bank. The PPH
backs President Hip?lito Mej?a?s aspirations to a second term of office in the
May 2004 election.
El Caribe reports the decision was made during a meeting of the economic and
political teams of the government. J?quez stated that they are not playing games
and want to replicate the success garnered with similar programs that led to
their sweeping victory in the 2002 congressional elections.
J?quez said priorities will be to subsidize power and medicine and make low-cost
food products available to the residents in the poorer barrios.
J?quez is quoted as saying that everyone, including the IMF, knows that social
peace is necessary for the government to be able to repay the loans received
from multilateral organizations and the governments they represent.
J?quez also announced that the political team would hold weekly meetings on
Thursdays with the government?s economic team. Key members of the political team
are J?quez, legal advisor to the President Guido G?mez Mazara and Supervisor of
Public Works Hernani Salazar. For the economic team, the central figures are
Central Bank Governor Jos? Lois Malkum, Finance Minister Rafael Calder?n,
Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzm?n, Technical Secretary of the Presidency
Carlos Despradel, and Budget Director Luis Ernesto P?rez Cuevas.