2008 – Page 349

The DR1 Daily News will not be updated on Monday, 21 January, a national holiday. The 21st commemorates La Altagracia Day, honoring Our Lady of Highest Grace. Headline news will be compiled for the Tuesday, 22 January issue. Breaking news and comments may be posted throughout the break on the DR1 Forums at dr1.com/forums, which …

Read more…

The main recommendation of the day long DR Economic Perspectives Seminar organized by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development on the occasion of its first year anniversary celebration was that the government needed to increase spending on education. Panel members called on the extra spending to be monitored, as with spending in private business, …

Read more…

Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez welcomed the decision made by Puerto Rico to lift its temporary ban on importing Dominican chickens and expressed hopes that Haiti would soon follow suit. PR authorities had banned Dominican chicken exports last week after cases of Avian flu were detected in fighting cocks in Higuey and Santiago. Jimenez said that …

Read more…

Councilors in Bani have revoked the lease contract for 56,987 square meters of land after an investigation revealed that it was located within a protected area and scientific reserve known as the Dunes. The municipality had previously authorized the Ciramar International company to use the area. Listin Diario investigative reports exposed the case, and an …

Read more…

The Dominican Republic is the country with the lowest labor flexibility in the region. This ranks the DR among the worst in the world, according to the 2008 “Doing Business” report, released by the World Bank. The report places the DR in 32nd place on a list of 100 countries on the employment rigidity scale. …

Read more…

Interest rates on Dominican deposits are at around 7-8%, but with the Central Bank announcing a year-end inflation rate of 8.8%, Dominicans are barely keeping the value of their deposits, as reported in Diario Libre. Central Bank reports indicate that the average rate paid for 30-day certificates was 6.26%, for 60-day certificates 6.62%, and 6.98% …

Read more…

According to National Statistics Office director, Pablo Tactuk, there are 9.7 million registered Dominicans and this number should reach 10 million by 2010. Tactuk added that this figure did not include the number of Haitians in the country. Projections indicate that there could be 11.2 million Dominicans by 2020. He explained that the slow growth …

Read more…

PRSC presidential candidate Amable Aristy Castro has challenged President Leonel Fernandez and PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado to a debate where all three would discuss the 10 main issues affecting the country. Aristy explained that among the topics on his agenda are poverty, cost of living, unemployment, safety, crime, the energy crisis, education and …

Read more…

Dominican residents in Spain will now be able to renew as well as driving with their Dominican driver’s licenses there, thanks to a new agreement signed between the DR and Spain, as reported in Listin Diario. So far 14,000 Dominicans have benefited from this agreement. In order to make this possible, the Dominican Public Works …

Read more…