2003 – Page 51

The peso’s devaluation has increased the country’s external debt by 75%, according to a report in the Listin Diario, from the original estimate of RD$7 billion to RD$12.25 billion. In the paper’s economy section, a separate article quotes Jaime Aristy Escuder, an advisor to the Electricity Sector’s Sustainabilty Committee, as saying that the government’s reacquisition …

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President Hipolito Mejia thanked the business community for their decision to make the so-called “temporary solidarity contributions” to government coffers, with the aim of helping the government overcome its deficit and get the “standby” agreement with the International Monetary Fund back on track. Exporters’ association ADOEXPO president Samir Rizek asked President Mejia to withdraw the …

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Elena Viyella de Paliza, president of private business association CONEP, has suggested that the government create a compensation fund to help small- and medium-sized businesses face the challenge of an unregulated market, as is expected with the introduction of the forthcoming free trade agreement with the US. The government has set up schemes that support …

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The president of the Dominican industrialists association (AIRD) Lisandro Macarrulla voiced his support yesterday for the planned partial privatization of the power sector. “The business sector will know how to manage this more efficiently,” he said, while nevertheless admitting that the manner in which the process was carried out would be crucial in determining its …

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The Venezuelan ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Francisco Belisario Landis, and Interior & Justice Minister Luis Rincon Romero arrived in Santo Domingo yesterday, in an apparent attempt to heal the rift between the two countries. They are due to meet with President Hipolito Mejia today. Belisario was recalled to Caracas in September following accusations that …

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El Caribe’s main editorial speaks about the despair of thousands of Dominicans who put their lives at risk to make illegal crossings to Puerto Rico. US Coast Guard statistics report that over 6,000 Dominicans attempted to traverse the hazardous Mona Passage between September 2002 and 2003. Just over one-third were successful and the rest were …

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“Transparent and competitive” are the words used to describe the proposed sale of shares the government holds in the power companies, including the recently reacquired “Edes”. The only companies not included in the sale are the hydroelectric companies. President Hipolito Mejia announced Decree 1035-03 yesterday, which sets the ball rolling for the eventual sale of …

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The business community has agreed to make monthly contributions of RD$325 million until February 2004 as a way of helping the government ease the effects of the current economic crisis and to raise the funds needed to resurrect the standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which has been paralyzed for the past month. The …

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President Hipolito Mejia said yesterday that the funds needed for ailing state hospitals would be made available immediately. This comes in reaction to a report in yesterday’s Hoy newspaper that the Pearl F. Ort burns unit at the Dr Luis Eduardo Aybar Hospital was under threat of closure due to lack of financial support. The …

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Motor vehicles and household appliances top the list of items for which demand has fallen steeply when compared to last year. Importers believe that with the latest increase in the exchange rate commission on imports, this situation is only likely to worsen. “The general situation in the country has meant that sales are very slow. …

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