The sharp appreciation of the peso has benefited the government in that it needs less pesos to pay the foreign debt. But on the other hand, the government is receiving less revenues since imports values have dropped. Hoy newspaper says that the difference in tax collections is due to the fact that in August imports were valued at an exchange rate of RD$50-US$1. Today, these are being valued at RD$30-US$1. In August, the government received RD$10.5 billion in revenues, compared to RD$9.2 billion in September and RD$8.9 billion in October.