The Superintendence of Banks and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met earlier this week to review the performance of the Dominican financial system during the current year. At the end of the meeting, the Superintendent of Banks, Luis Armando Asuncion Alvarez, reported that the IMF mission members said they were satisfied by the indicators for earnings, efficiency and quality of the credit portfolio of the banking sector, as well as the strength of its assets. One of the issues the Superintendent of Banks discussed with the IMF was the RD$50.7 billion increase in private sector credit. The superintendent also stressed the solvency of the system and its ability to absorb any losses associated with different risks. Asuncion Alvarez added that they have observed an improvement on the banks’ return on investment, which reached 27.6% in September 2014.
The IMF also met with executives from the State Electricity Companies (CDEEE) to review the current situation of the Dominican electricity system and its prospects. During this meeting the CDEEE vice president Ruben Jimenez Bichara presented a report on the comprehensive plan that the CDEEE is implementing in order to tackle the difficulties in the national electricity sector, which outlines the progress made during the last two years. Jimenez Bichara mentioned the progress being made towards changing the fuel generation matrix, which will allow a reduction in costs and make the electricity system more financially sustainable. Central to this presentation was the construction of the two coal-fired generation units at Punta Catalina as well as the changes in the combined cycle generation units in Los Mina.