Following the dismal report from Goldman Sachs last week, the Center for Economic Studies in Latin America, better known as CEPAL, revealed numbers that show the Dominican economy will have either a negative growth rate or zero growth for 2004.
The ?1.3% contraction in 2003 provoked a 1.9% decrease in the GDP, a remarkable number after a decade of such continual growth. As reported in the Diario Libre, CEPAL projected the economic expansion for 18 countries in Latin America, of which the Dominican Republic and Haiti have the worst numbers, and Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have, by far, the best. According to CEPAL, even in the best of situations with a regional growth averaging 4.3%, the most positive outlook for the DR would be a situation of zero growth. Growth dynamics in the Caribbean are often based on tourism, which is looking at a 4% annual growth rate, and the export of farm products, especially bananas, a market that is also expected to continue its expansion. In the graph that accompanies the article, the Dominican Republic is shown to have a -1% growth rate for 2004.