Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa has announced that the Dominican Government and the IMF have finished their review of the IMF Letter of Intent and established new goals that are more in keeping with the current economic and fiscal realities. According to Hoy, Bengoa was very happy about the fact that the new goal for economic growth was increased from 2.5% to 3.5% and that the inflation goal was lowered to 9% from 13%. Adjustments were also made regarding fiscal income, and the two parties also agreed to establish a proposal for tax reform that will only be implemented if the DR-CAFTA agreement is signed, sealed and delivered. Bengoa said that while the government’s economic team wanted to keep to the original Letter of Intent, the IMF was seeking to have the tax reform in place by June or July of this year. The original Letter of Intent did not specify exactly when the new tax reform would go into effect, but it did provide for a team from the IDB and other experts to work out a proposal for the government, and if the DR-CAFTA agreement were approved, then the two parties could get together to see if the tax package could be moved up a bit.