2006 – Page 5

A US$50 million loan from the World Bank will finally be handed out to the DR either today or tomorrow, according to Technical Minister of the Presidency Temistocles Montas. The disbursal is part of a total US$150 million loan package from the World Bank. Montas said that the loan had been approved in May 2005, …

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A new bill that is a pre-requisite for Dominican airlines to fly to the United States was passed yesterday in Congress. The new Civil Aviation Bill replaces Law 505 on Civil Aviation that dated back to 1969. Its contents meet US Federal Aviation Agency and the International Organization for Civil Aviation requirements. The new law …

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The fiscal reform, which was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, now moves to the Chamber of Deputies for review in January. Though the PLD party controls the lower chamber of Congress, and the political committee of the PLD has instructed all its legislators to vote in favor of the reform or face sanctions, it …

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The Dominican National Brewery (CND) is still not satisfied with the government’s proposed ad valorem tax on alcohol. The government reduced its ad valorem tax on alcoholic beverages from 20% to 15%, but the CND is continuing to argue that alcoholic beverages should be taxed according to the level of alcohol. Teodoro Hidalgo, Corporate Affairs …

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The report on the Dominican economy released by the Central Bank, for the period of January-September is missing key information. The data provided by the report doesn’t include the numerical value of employees and doesn’t include specifics on payroll. The report in fact only provided the amount of government employees in percentages. Also the report …

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Not all women are happy that the government is subsidizing hair care for women this holiday season. El Caribe comments that some women feel that it is a way for the government to run away from the real problems. The paper writes that many women feel that instead of giving the money in this way, …

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Department for Drug Control (DNCD) Radhames Ramirez Ferreira says that Colombians deported from the DR for drug trafficking manage to return to the country using false documents that they received illegally from the Central Electoral Board (JCE). National Department for Investigation head Sigfrido Pared Perez says that he has concrete evidence that many people, not …

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An arrest warrant has been issued for the person accused of heading the “mafia” at the Pensions Department that was defrauding the government of millions of pesos. A name has not been provided. Octavio Lister, head of the government’s anti-corruption department Depreco, said that the warrant was issued because the former head of the Pensions …

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A network of illegal credit card producers has been dismantled by the National Police after three members of the network were caught trying to pay at McDonalds using a fake credit card. Venezuelans Enzo Buzzoloti, Oswaldo Leon and Jimmy Palomino were caught as they tried to use one of the false credit cards to pay …

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The Robert Reid Children’s Hospital will have a burns unit next year, to be funded by Taiwanese government cooperation. Ambassador Eduardo Chen made the announcement yesterday. Hoy newspaper reports that the First Lady’s Office will oversee the unit that will feature four or five operating rooms, and 10-12 beds. The unit will cost an estimated …

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