The economic consulting company Fundacion Siglo 21 writes in the Listin Diario to compare the present economic crisis with that of 1990. While alerting that the present crisis is not yet over, the company says that the 1990 crisis was felt more acutely than at present, through inflation, devaluation, the falling GDP, increased unemployment, and severe scarcity of products and services. For instance, in 1990 the three-year accumulated inflation was 277%, while the present three-year accumulated inflation stands at 52.3%. The economic foundation points out that the biggest difference between the two is that the 1990 crisis was easy to resolve. The Foundation states that all that had to be done was stop public construction, free the exchange rate, increase some taxes, adjust the customs rate for assessment of imports and eliminate certain subsidies to stabilize the economy and resume growth in less than two years.
Unfortunately, he said, this would not work today as the present crisis is much more complex and probably more durable in regards of economic, social and even moral effects that would be felt by generations. He said economic history will be divided in before and after the banks’ collapse. He also highlights another distinction, being that as a consequence of the overheating of the economy back then, the country was left with the Nizao-Valdesia aqueduct, the Jiguey-Aguacate dam, the highway to San Cristobal and several other public works. “Of this crisis, only sweat, tears, and perhaps blood. Never had so much pain been caused to a society for nothing.”