Listin Diario reports that Dominicans are drinking much less whisky. Whisky importer Diageo Dominicano, which represents the Johnny Walker brand, says there has been an overall 40% decline in sales compared to those in 2002. He says that consumers have lately opted for cheaper alcoholic beverages and criticized the fact that such increasing costs are in part due to augmented taxes. He says that taxation outweighs the profits generated by the sales and reports that only sales of the high-end Black Label whisky have remained the same. Jose Jimenez, spokesman for the company, is nevertheless confident that things will improve. “We have decided to continue investing in our brands because we understand this is a small economy. And while it is true that sales have suffered in the past year, they should come back. When we evaluate all the economic indicators, we note that these are not bad, because the generators for hard currency are growing,” he said.