Economist and Presidential Advisor Julio Ortega Tous blames the previous government for the economic crisis of 2003, according to Listin Diario newspaper. Ortega Tous says it was not banking fraud that led to the problem, but the government’s economic policies that created the banking crisis. “It was an economic crisis waiting to happen, and the situation in the banking sector was used as a pretext to justify the economic disaster of that administration to the international financial institutions”. This is something that the current government’s negotiating team has had to explain to the IMF, said the economic advisor. “The cure was worse than the illness”, declared Ortega Tous, referring to the closure of banks like Baninter by the Central Bank. He added that the Dominican banking sector was in a recovery phase, undergoing a process of reform and capitalization: “I am certain that things are going to improve on all fronts”.