Finance Secretary Vicente Bengoa said yesterday that the government is studying mechanisms whereby domestic and foreign investors would advance funds for 3 to 5 years that would be used in future investments, via the Central Bank or the Banco de Reservas, to cover the savings certificates issued by the Central Bank. He expects most of the funds to be provided by investors from Palma de Mallorca, from where 60% of Spanish investments in Dominican tourism have come. The DR is the leading destination for Spanish investment in hotels abroad.
The dollars would be converted to pesos to pay off the depositors once these expire. Bengoa spoke following being sworn in as finance minister by Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temistocles Montas.
Bengoa said that President Leonel Fernandez met with the Spanish investors in Spain during the transition period and had explained to them the situation of the Dominican Republic and the quasi fiscal deficit problem. ?They are going to contribute funds, that will be a sort of advance investment mechanism,? he said.
The names of the Spanish companies were not provided, nor the investments that they envision carrying out in the Dominican Republic.