The International Monetary Fund has confirmed that its delegation to the Dominican Republic will return next week, to continue its negotiations with the government that were suspended over one month ago when it was announced the government would take over the electricity supply companies Edesur and Edenorte from Spanish power company Union Fenosa. The IMF delegation left the country and froze all disbursements of funds, leaving the fate of the standby agreement in question. IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson said in a statement that the mission would travel to Santo Domingo late next week to resume talks and study the implications of the reacquisition of the “Edes”. According to economist and former Central Bank governor Bernardo Vega, as quoted in Hoy newspaper, these delays could mean that the agreement would not be confirmed until the end of December, although a statement of principle could come three or four weeks in advance. In the mean time, the climate of uncertainty will mean that the peso continues to flounder, said Vega, who felt that this stage of the process was a good chance to introduce effective fiscal reform in time for the government’s 2004 budget. Vega said that the private sector was right in calling on the government to introduce such reform, and that President Hipolito Mejia’s measures were not austere enough. He voiced his doubt that the IMF would accept the private sector’s “solidarity contributions” as a reliable source of income for the national budget, because these could be withdrawn at any moment.