Dominican Republic analyst for Bear Stearns Franco Uccelli believes October will be a challenging month for the country. In addition to being the month when the government scheduled to take its case to the IMG, travel back to France to finalize negotiations with the Paris Club for bilateral debt relief for this year and hopefully 2006, and complete negotiations with commercial banks to restructure US$200 million worth of credits coming due in 2005-2006, the country’s central bank will face some US$1.1 billion in CD maturities. Based on past experience and the large domestic demand for the instruments, monetary authorities are confident there will be no problems to roll over the maturing paper – 80% of which is held by individual investors, whose instruments are likely to roll over automatically, rather than by institutional investors, whose investment decisions are more strategic in nature and therefore more unpredictable. Also, both the central government and the country’s commercial banks would lend a hand should the need arise. Official sources say the central government has close to US$400 million on deposit at state-owned Banco de Reservas and the privately-owned banks have expressed their desire to continue investing in Central Bank paper, an option that has been very profitable for them in the recent past and that has allowed them to put about 25% of their assets to productive use. Uccelli believes that the CD maturities will represent a test for the Central Bank’s credibility and for the financial integrity of the country as a whole. Should the authorities be able to handle the situation as smoothly as they expect, it would greatly contribute to increase market confidence in the management of the economy.