One month after President Hipolito Mejia, in the presence of the economic team of his administration and also of the nation’s security forces, ordered that the exchange rate drop to RD$30-US$1, the value of the Dominican peso has plummeted to a new record low. After the rate stagnated at around RD$34-US$1, with dollars becoming scarcer by the day, news reports indicate that the peso is being bought at RD$47-US$1 and dollars continue to be in short supply as sellers hold back, expecting the price to go up. A month after the much publicized meeting at the Presidential Palace of the military and economic teams with bank and exchange house representatives, the Central Bank gave the order to again liberalize the market and the rate began to climb in the exchange houses once again to the new record high. Apparently, however, the damage had already been done as the previously non-existent black market had again established liaisons between providers and buyers of dollars, thereby reducing the formal market’s scope. Thus, while the rate is at present high, the availability in exchange houses continued to be limited yesterday, although this could be for a short time as the dollar flows are resumed. Sources also attribute the decline in the value of the peso to the lack of confidence in the present administration and to errors in governmental monetary policy, such as the release of around RD$100 billion in “inorganicos”, or money that is not backed by reserves. In January of 2003, the peso stood at RD$20 to US$1.