Hoy newspaper carries the story by economic editor Mario Mendez that the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic did not remit the US$29 million owed in interest on the US$600-million sovereign bonds issued last year. Although this situation has been confirmed to the Hoy editor by both local and international sources, as well as an unnamed source deep inside the Central Bank, there has still been no official substantiation of this by the bank itself. In spite of the non-payment last Friday’s scheduled remittance, the DR still has 30 days to fulfill its obligations before falling into the ignominious “default” category. According to the Hoy report, the Finance Ministry handed over the pesos necessary to purchase the US$29 million dollars to the Central Bank at 6:30pm Friday (5:30pm EST), but was too late to meet the five o’clock end of business deadline in New York City. Because of restrictions imposed by the IMF, the Central Bank cannot use its international reserves to pay this account, but must purchase its dollars on the open market. Previously, the Monetary Board had passed a resolution requiring the Finance Ministry to pay international obligations with dollars purchased from the local market. The Central Bank, however, has not yet received the resolution signed by all of the proper authorities.