The Young Entrepreneurs Association (ANJE) is expressing its concern at the government’s plan for a fiscal deficit of RD$77 billion in 2014. The business group says that this brings indebtedness to 48.8% of the GDP, including the Central Bank debt. The Association says that the country has reached the point where its capacity to pay its debt is compromising its long-term development objectives.
“If the payments on the debt the government needs to make are added, the level of financing of the government reaches RD$189 billion,” says the business group. The organization is more concerned because more than 80% of the funds will be obtained by taking on new debt. ANJE is calling for restructuring the electricity, labor, fiscal and educational sectors, and more efficiency in the public payroll. The organization says that the country needs to create the conditions for economic growth, not taking on new debt, to be the source for the generation of hard currency.