Meanwhile, as reported in the Listin Diario, Superintendent of Banks Julio Cross says the private sector maintains a US$7-billion short-term debt, which also pressures the foreign exchange market. Cross says this is far more than the US$5-billion debt he attributes to the government, including the US$1.1 million in sovereign bonds. He said that the foreign debt at the start of this administration was US$3.67 billion.
Cross explained that of this amount, US$2.7 billion goes back to 2001, another US$2 billion is in offshore banks, another US$1 billion is owed to what he described as ambulatory international banks and another US$500 million is owed to local and foreign suppliers. Dominican companies borrowed in dollars in the past three years given the high cost of peso loans in the Dominican Republic.