2004 – Page 61

In spite of the attention the Senate’s approval of the 30% increase to the minimum wage received in the national press and media, the process is not yet finished. Yesterday, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, told reporters that the chamber had yet to even read the legislation and that they would …

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The government’s accounting office is questioning sums of RD$137 million and US$61,838 of the funds used to build the airport at La Isabela. The government invested RD$957.5 million and US$4.7 million in the airport facility, which has never been used and is now useless, making it the costliest white elephant in the Dominican Republic. As …

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National Energy Commission chief Ruben Montas told reporters that the government would pay AES-Dominicana US$5 million today in order for them to purchase fuel for their generators in Boca Chica. Montas said the payment was agreed upon after a meeting between officials of AES-Dominicana and the National Energy Commission, together with Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa. …

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Beat Siegenthaler reports that the emerging markets team of Commerzbank Securities has upgraded their recommendation on the Dominican Republic to overweight from marketweight based on a number of positive news it received on Wednesday that confirmed their previously cautious optimism. Amongst the positive news is the fact that the government confirmed the payment of a …

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The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned yesterday that the Dominican Republic had better “take more care of the coastlines and watershed areas in order to avoid natural disasters such as those that struck Jimani and the DR’s East Coast following Hurricane Jeanne. Ricardo Zapata, the head of the Disaster Unit …

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Three rice cultivators are dead following an incident that evoked the Wild West and that centered around the water rights for crops. The three deceased men, Fausto Cruz, Manuel Emilio Bautista and Braulio Valdeyaque, drew their weapons and shot at each other, as they argued over the water that passes over their lands, all sown …

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The Brugal Foundation announced last night that the Salesian Technological Institute in Santo Domingo was awarded the grand prize in their XIII Award Ceremony. The prizes total RD$4 million, with RD$1 million going to the winner of the “Brugal cree en su gente” award. The ceremony took place at the Casa San Pedro in Santo …

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Under the aegis of the San Jose Accords, Venezuela has agreed to a US$39-million loan that was first negotiated during the first Fernandez administration and will be used to finance the purchase of passenger vehicles and for the construction, re-construction and equipping of sports installations. By way of Presidential Decree No. 685-04, President Fernandez authorized …

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The reserve accounts of banks with dollar deposits have increased by 78% since 2003 and so far this year the Central Bank has US$368 million in its coffers. The increase in the legally-mandated reserves has helped the Central Bank overcome the steady decrease in hard currency reserves that was observed over the past year. Without …

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The Dominican Senate approved last night, after certain modifications and just one reading, a 30% increase in the minimum wage for public servants and private employees. Nineteen of the twenty senators present in the chamber voted affirmatively on the measure. The PLD’s Senator Jose Tomas Perez (Santo Domingo) abstained. Perez had proposed that the legislation …

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