2003 – Page 8

The Diario Libre newspaper reports this morning that the International Monetary Fund is indicating that the “technical level understanding” reached with the Dominican government (as reported in yesterday’s DR1 news) is not yet a sealed deal. According to a communique issued yesterday, also published on the IMF’s website, several conditions need to be met, including …

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Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel said that the IMF now requires that Congress pass the bills legalizing new taxes prior to resuming the assistance program. While the general consensus is that the IMF is the bad-tasting medicine the DR needs to take, the unknown is how soon or whether the Chamber of Deputies …

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If the president of the Chamber of Deputies Alfredo Pacheco’s reaction is anything to go by, the 2004 budget will not get a smooth ride through Congress. Yesterday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies met with Technical Secretary to the Presidency Carlos Despradel and budget director Ernesto Perez Cuevas, who presented him with a …

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The news on the revised IMF agreement represents “a second chance”, according to the main editorial in today’s El Caribe newspaper. The revised package, says the writer, is laden with challenges for the government, the business sector and Congress. The government’s main challenge is “transparency”, in that it has to explain all measures being taken …

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The second PRD convention, previously scheduled to have taken place this Sunday, will now take place in January, said Culture Minister Tony Raful, yesterday. This postponement followed meetings with President Hipolito Mejia and the three disgruntled pre-candidates who withdrew from the race earlier in the day. Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Rafael “Fello” Subervi Bonilla and Enmanuel …

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Economist Celso Marranzini told Hoy newspaper that the political crises in general, and that of the ruling PRD in particular, only serve to harm Dominican exporters’ credit facilities. He cited the recent analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which recommended no further loans to the government because the funds could be diverted for political campaigning. …

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Marco Mantovanelli, who represents the World Bank in the Dominican Republic, advised the government not to rush the proposed reprivatization of the electricity distribution companies, the “Edes”, that were repossessed by the government from the private company Union Fenosa in October. Mantovanelli said that the authorities needed to look into Edesur and Edenorte’s sustainability before …

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The dollar-peso exchange rate fell 100 points (one peso) to RD$36 to US$1 yesterday, but there are still no dollars available for purchase in the currency market. This is an unprecedented situation for the month of December, which usually sees a large amount of the US currency flooding the market as Dominicans residing abroad return …

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The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has calculated that 2003 has been the worst year for the Dominican Republic in the last decade. The Latin America-wide economic think-tank lists the 1.3% contraction in the economy, an inflation rate that topped 40%, the crisis in the banking sector, the increase in international …

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Disgraced Baninter President Ramon Baez Figueroa, in jail awaiting his trial for massive fraud charges, has said that he is being blamed for everything from the price surges to last September’s earthquake in the north of the country. “I would say that I have even increased the price of flour, not to mention caused the …

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