According to Hoy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will keep a closer watch on the fulfillment of its Standby Agreement during the period of government transition. The IMF also announced that they plan to involve officials from President-elect Leonel Fernandez?s economic team in the local talks. According to Mario Mendez, the economic editor of Hoy, the restart of the Standby Agreement depends on whether the members of the international financial organization are convinced the current government is committed to correcting the deviations that were found in the second review, and whether the newly-elected government will approve the same policies. Even more important, the report and the decision of the IMF board will be announced by the IMF chief of mission and not the DR?s government spokesperson. According to what was perceived by Mendez, the idea is to try and guarantee that the present and future government officials are on the same page. As El Caribe reports, Rusmend Mandeng, the permanent IMF representative in the Dominican Republic, has already said that the US$62-million disbursement is on hold until the second review of the Standby Agreement had been completed. Mandeng emphasized that the accord has not stopped outright, but that the IMF decided to slow things down a bit because of the ?special situation,? the transitional period between two governments, that is taking place.
Relatedly, emerging markets brokerage firm reports raise doubts about whether the Mejia administration will make the pending US$27-million interest payment on the sovereign bond that falls due at the end of July, just two weeks before the onset of the next administration.