The Dominican peso, which abruptly shot to a record two-year high of RD$27 to US$1 last week, lost out to the US currency and yesterday was being traded at RD$35.50 and RD$37 to US$1. Exchange banks said there was a scarcity of dollars.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa, as reported in Diario Libre, said that the problem is not the exchange rate itself, but one of stability. “It is important for the government that the dollar cost less, but we also need to take into consideration how the abrupt decline of the dollar affects the local sectors that generate dollars. The ideal would be for the exchange rate to stabilize,” he said.
Bengoa admitted that the government stands to benefit the most from an appreciating peso as it will require less pesos to pay its foreign debt. He attributed the decline to the economic sectors’ increased confidence in the new authorities.
To follow the daily fluctuations of the Dominican peso, see http://dr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26541