2004 – Page 49

Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque and the country’s leading arbiter Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado issued separate statements requesting employers to respect the salary agreement devised last week by the National Salaries Commission. Both men referred to the agreement between labor unions and employers that prescribed a 30% wage increase in the DR’s legal minimum wage, as well …

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Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque pointed out yesterday that the National Budget will severely limit the President’s ability to implement plans to combat poverty. The special laws that focus parts of the budget on specific areas, such as the Congress (4% of the budget), the municipalities (10% of the budget) and debt service (40% of the budget), …

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The International Monetary Fund mission to the Dominican Republic will depart today after a two-week stay that focused on the conditions necessary to reinstate the Stand By Agreement. Back in Washington, the team will report on the joint efforts that were agreed upon with the DR’s economic cabinet. According to Jose Fajgenbaum, the acting director …

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Twelve of the generators went offline yesterday, initiating a new round of prolonged blackouts for most of the country. All 12 units cited a lack of fuel as the cause of their departure from the grid. While online generation was at 1071 MW, demand at peak hours stood at 1659.9 MW, sending parts of Santo …

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The Ministry of the Interior and Police will begin confiscating, as of tomorrow, the firearms issued under what it is euphemistically calling “friendly” weapons permits. These illegal permits, estimated to number 300,000, were issued by Armed Forces personnel, the National Drug Control Department, the National Department of Investigations or the National Police. Among the holders …

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The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will devise strategies, through the National Dialogue forum, that will seek to reduce violence in the Dominican Republic. The Dialogue’s coordinator, Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, made the announcement at the end of a meeting with the various media who had promised to assist the National Dialogue in spreading the …

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As a member of the ACP nations (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific), the Dominican Republic and its banana industry will benefit greatly from the increased tariffs agreed upon by the European Union. These tariffs increase the tax on bananas from ?75 per ton to ?230 per ton on fruit coming from non-ACP nations. The measure, as …

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As the Most Valuable Player of the Yankees-Red Sox playoffs, Dominican slugger David Ortiz has been chosen to be featured on “The Breakfast of Champions” package. Commenting on the sponsorship, Ortiz told the press that he still prefers “mangu,” the popular Dominican breakfast of mashed plantains. Others who have had their images represented on the …

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In a meeting that lasted several hours, the government’s Economic Cabinet and the IMF delegation currently in country hashed out the structure of the 2005 budget law. Sources close to the action told Hoy newspaper that there were hopes that the negotiations would be finalized by week’s end. One source said there had been “significant …

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Hector Valdez Albizu’s speech to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the Dominican Republic’s Central Bank pointed out that the “preliminary result of the overall balance of payments during the January 2004-September 2004 period was US$158 million in favor of the Dominican Republic,” and that this will continue to the end of the year and close …

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