President Hipolito Mejia met with the IMF officials, after which he told the press that the IMF is disposed to resume the agreement. He said, nevertheless, that the reactivation of the agreement is being left up to the incoming government, which takes office 16 August. President Mejia met at the Presidential Palace with Jose Fajgenbaum, the IMF Deputy Director of the Western Hemisphere, and Steven Phillips, the senior economist of the Western Hemisphere Department, among other visiting IMF officers. Mejia was accompanied by Governor of the Central Bank Jose Lois Malkun and Technical Secretary of the Presidency Carlos Despradel. ?We are open to continuing to support this, because we need the Fund, its sponsorship, supervision, control and the dollars. We need the participation of the Fund,? said President Mejia when asked to comment on the meeting by the press. The IMF delegation also met with the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.
The visiting mission from the International Monetary Fund also met with President-elect Leonel Fernandez and his economic team to present a summary of the nation?s economic situation. Hoy newspaper reports that this summary concurs with reports on the state of the economy received by the incoming government?s transition team.
The newspaper?s sources say that the principal obstacle in the resumption of the IMF agreement is that the present government spent more than it collected in the first quarter of the year, leaving a fiscal spread of 2% of the Gross Domestic Product. The IMF wants the tax reform bill, which the Mejia administration had scheduled to be enacted in July, to fund the deficit. Mejia has now said he would leave the tax reform bill up to the next government authorities that begin office in mid August.
During the talks with the IMF officers, Fernandez was accompanied by Vice President-elect Rafael Alburquerque, Temistocles Montas, Daniel Toribio, Rafael Camilo, Vicente Bengoa, Hector Valdez Albizu, Juan Hernandez and Eduardo Tejera.