2003 – Page 61

The plebiscite called by the PRD party was held yesterday, showing a 90% rejection rate on the issue of the proposed Presidential re-election, according to today’s press. Depending on the newspaper, the plebiscite increased the internal division of the party, scored a victory for the anti-re-election sector or just gave mixed results. The government-intervened Listin …

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El Caribe reports that the current crisis within the PRD party is still far from being settled. The paper says that the results of Sunday’s plebiscite would either endorse the Presidential bid for immediate re-election or discard it. Page 3 of Hoy’s Sunday edition carried a full-page ad taken out by the PRD in which …

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The third largest political party, the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC) is also suffering from internal conflicts. Former Vice-President Jacinto Peynado returned from a convalescence in Miami to head a meeting of party leaders that called for a special convening of the National Assembly on 16 November to modify the party bylaws and elect a …

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President Mejia told a national television audience that he would not put an end to the thousands of small and medium-sized public works projects that benefit the poor and the needy. According to Hoy, the President ignored the suggestion from Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkum, who wanted the President to halt or at least …

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The IMF has not disbursed its scheduled checks – and will not do so until the government finds an alternative to the 5% tax on exports and proves that the purchase of Union Fenosa will not increase the debt load of the Dominican economy. El Caribe got this tidbit from a very highly-placed source, directly …

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Deputy Radhames Castro of the Popular Christian Party (PPC) has proposed a bill to augment the salaries of the National Congress deputies to the 1997 equivalent salary in dollars. While hard to believe, El Caribe confirmed that this deputy is looking for a 114% salary increase, based on comparisons with other countries, including Haiti. Deputy …

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Fausto Adames, of the Listin Diario, reports that when the year 2003 comes to a close Dominicans will have lost 45% of their income, foreign investment will have fallen by 35% and the international monetary reserves of the Central Bank will be in the red. This bleak outlook was presented by Agustin Carstens, the chief …

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The World Labor Organization forecasts that unemployment in the Dominican Republic will reach a record 19.5% by 2005. The report, published in the Listin Diario, says that while joblessness in the first quarter of the year stood at 16.4%, by the end of this year it is expected to reach 17.3%.

Freddy Ortiz, the president of the Dominican Association of Remittance Companies (ADEREDI), told the Listin Diario that the US dollar should settle at a price of about RD$31, as long as the government does not constrict the exchange of information that makes the market nervous. Ortiz said the government should designate a capable spokesperson to …

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