For economist Markus Rodlauer and Alfred Schipke, the authors of a study for the International Monetary Fund called “Central America: World Integrations and Regional Cooperation”, the 2003 banking crisis in the Dominican Republic is a “textbook example” of the high cost a country pays when the banking system operates without an adequate regulatory framework. Rodlauer says that the financial cost of the 2003 crisis initiated by the government’s intervention in several banks, beginning with Baninter, was equivalent to 20% of the nation’s GDP. The economist explains how the nation’s public debt soared and the government had to use resources that were destined for important infrastructural works and for helping the poor in order to stem the crisis. The crisis also lowered the country’s bond ratings due to the increased debt load. When the two authors were asked by congressional deputy Pelegrin Castillo why traders were having so much trouble obtaining commercial credits, the reply was that in every country where a crisis of this magnitude has taken place, the readjustments within the banking community take years to sort out. After several years of adjustments by both the business sector and the banks, loans will once more become available. The authors also said that a look at the figures for the years before the Dominican banking crisis of 2003 reveals that there seems to have been an excess of credit, and this, too, would contribute to credit restrictions at the present time.