The Senate approved a loan for US$89 million with the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) for the Programa Multifase para la Equidad de la Educacion Basica, a government program to aid grade school education. This is the exception to the usual procedure of foreign borrowing with commercial banks.
On the same day, the Senate passed a bill for US$48.9 million with Israel Banks, guaranteed by the Israel Foreign Trading and Eximbank. The money is meant for a farming project for the planting of mangos, lemons and other fruit in Nizaito and Villa Fundacion. Reportedly, topmost on the Senate’s agenda is also a loan for US$2.7 million to purchase computer equipment for the National Drug Control Department. The president of the Commission of Finance of the Senate, Juan Morales, says that the Executive Branch has sent bills totalling US$1.5 billion for approval by the Senate.
Yesterday alone, the Senate approved loans totalling US$194 million with commercial banks — US$131 million for the construction of the Pinalito hydroelectric dam; US$45 million to purchase asphaltic cement; US$18 million to purchase medical supplies for public hospitals.
The PLD yesterday in a paid advertisement held the Mejia administration and the ruling party’s majority in Congress responsible for the increase in the Dominican foreign debt from US$3.7 billion at the end of the previous administration to upwards of US$7.6 billion today. This sum does not include the quantum leap in domestic borrowing and the quasi-fiscal debt in certificates of deposit in the Central Bank.