Ernesto Vilalta, speaking for the Association of Industries of Herrera (AEIH), one of the largest business groups in the DR, urged the government to give priority to measures that reduce the cost of power in the DR. Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa and other government department heads have been meeting with business representatives to reach agreements on how the government can retain its level of income once the FTA signed with the United States goes into effect. The DR-CAFTA agreement will considerably reduce government tariff revenues and eliminate the surcharge on hard currency transactions. Ernesto Vilalta, president of AEIH, as reported in the Listin Diario, warned that while the country is dependent on emergency power plants there will not be progress. He says that in addition to a true fiscal reform, the country needs to be able to count on a power system that provides quality, reasonably priced and continuous power service. “We have achieved nothing if we fix the fiscal cost side of things, but do not resolve the electricity problem,” he said. Vilalta said that power makes up the single highest burden in the cost structure of any industry in the country, affecting competitiveness. He said that with the present state of affairs, companies can not buy new machinery because most of these are electronic and cannot tolerate power outages and other related problems.
The government is meeting with the National Business Council (CONEP), AEIH, the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), the Federation of Dominican Merchants (FDC) and the Association of Industries (AIRD).
Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa explained, “Our idea is not to create additional taxes, but to redistribute the taxes,” he said. They are contemplating including the products covered by the ITBIS tax on final sales.