2003 – Page 60

Exotix Limited, a London-based specialty broker in illiquid bonds and loans with a special emphasis on emerging markets, expressed its concern for the Dominican external debt, which it said is “rising rapidly and unsustainably.” Despite this, the firm did state that the public-debt-to-GDP ratio remains a tolerable 45%. At the start of the Mejia administration …

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The Diario Libre’s editorial today urges the authorities to focus on the economy and less on politics. The Page-4 perspective attributes the slide in the peso’s value to the nervousness evident in the market, in connection with the uncertainty over the IMF’s suspension of its standby arrangement program. The US dollar was bringing in RD$36 …

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The Customs Department ordered the transfer of 126 of a total 129 customs employees at the Las Americas International Airport (AILA). The personnel shuffle came after several reports of extortion were received from travelers. The director of Customs, Vicente Sanchez Baret, explained that he had received a report from the Security Department of Aerodom, the …

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The Seaboard Corporation is proposing to install a 100-megawatt power plant in the Cibao region. The company would sell power directly to the Santiago Free Zone Corporation, which demands approximately 30 megawatts. In the interim, the plan is to send Samana a power barge, presently docked in Santo Domingo, to supply energy to the North …

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The Listin Diario reports that banana exports could generate US$55 million this year, as a result of the 4.5 million cases exported. Bananas are primarily shipped to Europe and the United States and the shipments are split 75%-25% between organic bananas and those conventionally produced. The Dominican Republic is the leading supplier of organic bananas …

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Arturo Peguero, president of the Dominican Free Zone Association, warns that, contrary to expectations held at the start of the year, the second half prospects for 2003 are not good. He said that during the first quarter of the year, orders were up 6%, but during the April-June quarter they declined, and demand has since …

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Police ordered the shutdown of businesses selling alcohol near universities yesterday. This decision came after the president of the Federacion de Estudiantes Dominicanos (FED) was assaulted following his comments that the colmadones operating near the state university were affecting the academic work of the campus. Diario Libre reports that the director of the Foundation for …

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