The deputy minister of Hacienda and the head of the Budget Agency, Luis Reyes Santos, gave a detailed explanation on Wednesday, 21 October 2015 of the budget items for the 2016 budget totaling RD$663.56 billion, which shows a deficit of 2.3% of GDP of some RD$75.9 billion. The Budget is under study now in the Senate.
In an interview with Listin Diario, Luis Reyes highlighted the transparency in the handling of the budget and recalled that the Danilo Medina administration’s policy has been to gradually reduce the recurring deficits. He said the budget deficit of 2015 as of September was 1.7% of GDP so the year-end projection is that it will reach the 2.4% calculated in the original budget.
Reyes also mentioned that the government is not planning a fiscal reform during 2016. He said that the tax burden in the Dominican Republic was 13.4% in 2012 and that it has increased to 15.1% in 2015. He also pointed out that tax exemptions and subsidies for the productive sectors and consumers totaled RD$212.4 billion.