The Board of Directors of the World Bank presented a new support strategy for the Dominican Republic yesterday, Wednesday 1 October 2014. It offers a new program of loans for US$550 million and advisory services for the next four years (2015 n 2018), in order to expand economic and social opportunities for Dominicans.
“The objective of this loan is to offer the country’s poorest people not only direct access, financial support, but also access to public services, to housing, training, etc., so that they have an array of public services that is complete. It is a stronger effort in comparison with what we did before,” said Sophie Sirtaine, a director of the World Bank for the Caribbean, during a videoconference.
In the former strategy, which was budgeted for an amount similar to the new loan, in practice they disbursed US$600 million, according to World Bank resident representative, McDonald Benjamin, during the presentation of the new financing program.
During the unveiling of the new strategy they also commented on the country’s economic progress, saying that while the Dominican Republic had grown by an annual average of 6.7% over the last decade, representing one of the best performances in the Latin American and Caribbean region, poverty and unemployment have remained high.
The World Bank report says that 46% of Dominicans in rural areas live in poverty and that around 30% of young men and women are unemployed.
Nevertheless it also says that the Dominican Republic has great potential for creating more and better jobs for the poorest 40% of the population, as well as increasing their access to financial resources, electricity and more reliable telecommunications and better education, health, water and social protection services. The five priorities identified by the World Bank and the Dominican government are: improved access to public services, including education helps water and social protection, increased access to electricity, telecommunications and other infrastructure, promote the ability to recover from external shocks, improve the quality of the business climate and promote the efficient handling of public resources.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/19203348/prosperity-not-shared-weak-links-between-growth-equity-dominican-republic-vol-2-2-main-report