The Association of Dominican Banks (ABA) released a statement that defended the banking system and refuted the accusations made by former President Hipolito Mejia that said that the banks were confronting a crisis. The ABA press release said, “In the banking sector, the realities speak for themselves and discard any idea of a crisis.” According to the Diario Libre, the banks also pointed out that the system is getting stronger as seen in the strengthening on their solvency indexes.
Last Saturday, Mejia said that the PLD government was trying to hide a serious banking crisis identified in a report. The ABA said that what Mejia might have been referring to was the report filed by international experts on the causes and effects of the 2003 bank crisis.
The ABA also presented the results of the banking system over the past few months, and said that the results of the 10 banks that had published their quarterly operations do not reveal the slightest hint of any crisis.
Deposits, as an indicator of public confidence in the system grew by RD$4.9 billion while the end-of-year reports showed that common shares of banks had grown by 52%.