The Governor of the Central Bank Hector Valdez Albizu said on Thursday, 25 August that US$60 million would be injected into the bank system in order to halt the depreciation of the peso. The peso had declined to over RD$43.80 last week.
Valdez said this had an immediate effect of reducing the exchange rate to RD$42.94 for buying dollars and US$42.99 for selling dollars.
Valdez said that money in circulation had been growing this year and that the reduction in the bank reserves would not affect the money in circulation because the money is being lent to the productive sector, mainly to manufacturers. He said many manufacturers have received loans at 9% for six-year terms. He said that the increase in the two-point increase in the benchmark interest rate would not slow down the economy and that strong growth is forecast for next year.