2008 – Page 14

Foreign direct investment more than doubled in 2008, but real estate investment declined, according to statistics from the Center for Exports and Investment (CEI-RD). Investment in 2008 totaled US$2.35 billion, for a 55.1% growth from 2007. Real estate investment was down to US$576.4 million, compared to US$1.33 billion in 2007. Eddy Martinez, director of CEI-RD …

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Seven political parties and the Central Electoral Board (JCE) have signed a cross-party agreement, with the aim of cultivating trust in the DR’s political party system. Representatives from the PLD, PRD, PRSC, PRSD, APD, PRI and PPC met at the Spanish Embassy to discuss and sign the agreement. Miguel Angel Encimas from the Spanish International …

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Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia has said that bus drivers who use violence or cause disruption to services in tourist zones would have their licenses cancelled. He made this statement after bus drivers from two unions that shuttle workers to and from Higuey blocked the flow of traffic outside the city on Tuesday. The bus …

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Interior and Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier said that if drivers or transport leaders in Santo Domingo continue to cause trouble, they will be arrested. Police stopped a march by protestors from reaching the Presidential Palace yesterday and transport union leader Juan Hubieres is still on hunger strike. Hubieres and the bus drivers are campaigning …

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Judge Franny Gonzalez has withdrawn from hearing the trial of Financiera Nacional de Credito (CONACRE) executives because, according to her, a man who identified himself as Marcos Perez approached the judge and on two occasions, on 3 and 9 December, and offered her “a millionaire” bribe to rule in favor of the defendants. The judge …

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Hoy features a recent report, “Use of Antibiotics in the DR,” which found that 80% of doctors in the DR incorrectly prescribe antibiotic medicines and that an alarming number of Dominicans self-medicate, without a doctor’s advice. A total of 918 doctors were interviewed but only 629 agreed to participate in the study. The study considers …

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Some 6,000 cubic meters of contaminated land will be cleaned up in the notorious God’s Paradise, one of the world’s most polluted places on earth. The area is filled with lead and factory waste, but the Ministry of Environment and the Blacksmith Institute have pledged to clean up the area. Engineer Victor Garcia, who is …

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The president of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) has said that telephone companies that experience service outages should compensate their users for deficiencies in the service. As reported in Hoy, Jose Rafael Vargas said that there are eight million telephones in the DR, of which seven million are cell phones. He said that tele-density in …

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The Dominican Republic’s trade deficit with the United States has doubled. The DR has a free trade agreement with the US. As reported in Hoy, economist Luis Vargas says that figures from the US Department of Commerce for the first 10 months of 2008 show that the trade deficit grew 70%, or US$939.3 million, going …

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The Supreme Court has ruled that property owners can evict a tenant when the tenant uses the property for a purpose other than agreed in the written contract. The ruling overrides Decree 4807 from 1959 that strongly favored the tenant. Listin Diario reports that the ruling came about as a result of the case presented …

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