The Chamber of Deputies approved nine loans for a total amount of US$382 million, as reported in El Caribe. The funds would be used to rehabilitate power lines, build a hydroelectric dam, and improve the communications system of the Armed Forces and the pluvial drainage system of Guajimia en Santo Domingo. The loans are being taken on with foreign commercial banks. PLD Deputy Alfredo Cruz Polanco rejected the loans, as quoted in El Caribe: “We are approving ghost loans that we are not certain exist, nor can we even pronounce the names of the companies that will implement them,” he said. He then established a parallel with the era in which Christopher Columbus first arrived on the island. “They are trading gold for mirror trinkets with us,” he said. The Chamber sent the financial systematic risk bill to a study group. The bill has already been approved by the Senate.