Foreign Relations Minister Francisco Guerrero Prats said that the incoming authorities will have to request special funds to pay the Dominican diplomatic corps? final months? wages. He said the ministry had reduced the payroll by 20% when it let 97 foreign-service employees go in January in order to confront a budget compromised by the peso?s devaluation. This tactic, however, was not enough. Guerrero Prats said the funds for the corps to operate were calculated at a rate of RD$35 to US$1, whereas the actual rate has been closer to an average US$45 to US$1.