President Danilo Medina has delegated to the chief executive officers of some of the largest corporations in the Dominican Republic the task of turning around the poor and dropping competitiveness rating of the country. The appointments were made shortly after the poor results by the Dominican Republic in the World Economic Forum 2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Report were revealed.
In the most recent Global Competitiveness Report, the Dominican Republic declined 12 positions, and is now ranked a very poor 104th of 137 countries. The same report pinpointed, nevertheless, that government actions or lack of actions are what are keeping the Dominican score low.
The DR scored 129th of 137 countries for its institutions in the Global Competitiveness Report. The three most problematic factors for doing business in the Dominican Republic singled out by the report are corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy and tax rates. Other negative factors are inadequately educated workforce, crime and theft, access to financing, restrictive labor regulations, poor work ethic in national labor force and tax regulations.
The DR is in the bottom ten for the indicators of: diversion of public funds, public trust in politicians, judicial independence, favoritism in decisions of government officials, efficiency of government spending, reliability of police services, and ethical behavior of firms.
Interestingly, big business did not score well in the Global Competitiveness Report. The Dominican Republic ranked 110th in ethical behavior of firms (corporate ethics).
President Medina, nevertheless, chose to pass the ball to the top businessmen to resolve the competitiveness issues. On Monday, 4 December 2017, in a very formal event at the Presidential Palace, he swore in the members of the Advisory Board of the National Competitiveness Council (CNC). The members were appointed through Decree 389-17 dated 23 October 2017.
President Medina tweeted that for the first time the Competitiveness Council and its Advisory Board had met as part of the recently appointed strategic alliance between the public and private sector. President Medina tweeted that the group would work together to eliminate obstacles and open paths for the Dominican economy to be more competitive creating more opportunities for the people.
The leading businessmen named to turn around competitiveness are: Pedro Brache (Rica), Fernando Capellán (Grupo M), José Miguel González Cuadra (Supermercados Nacional + Jumbo), Manuel A. Grullón (Banco Popular) y Luis Molina Achécar (Banco BHD-Leon), Frank Rainieri (Grupo Puntacana), Manuel E. Tavárez (Piisa) and Felipe Vicini (Inicia) and Ligia Bonetti (MercaSid). Also assigned to the task are businessmen Miguel Barletta (Santo Domingo Motors), Rafael Blanco Canto (Viva Resorts), Roberto Bonetti (Mercasid), José Clase (free zone), Samuel Conde (Multimodal Puerto Caucedo), José Luis Corripio Estrada (Corripio) and Manuel Diez.
And Pedro Esteva (Imca), Manuel Estrella (Codelpa), Félix García Castellanos, Carlos Guillermo León and Franklin Leon (E Leon Jimenes), Celso Marranzini, Carlos José Martí (Tropigas), Ramón Menéndez (Costasur), Marcial Najri (Delta Comercial) and Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado (PUCMM). Also Mercedes Ramos (Grupo Ramos), Héctor Rizek (Grupo Rizek), Samir Rizek (Grupo Rizek), Gustavo Tavares, Juan Manuel Ureña, Bernardo Vega, Juan Vicini (Inicia), Máximo Vidal (Citibank), José Vitienes, and Aquiles Bermúdez, Jose Singer and Elena Viyella.
In turn, the members of the advisory board for the government are: Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo; Administrative Minister of the Presidency Jose Ramón Peralta; Economy and Planning Minister Isidoro Santana. Also Hacienda Minister Donald Guerrero; Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García; Agriculture Minister Angel Estevez; Industry & Commerce Minister Nelson Toca Simón, and the director of the Center for Exports & Investment (CEI-RD), Henry Molina.
On the positive side, the DR scored in the top half of the 137 countries regarding the following indicators: business costs of terrorism, quality of roads, quality of port infrastructure, quality of air transport infrastructure, available airline seat kilometers, gross national savings, inflation, government debt, malaria incidence, business impact of malaria, business impact of tuberculosis, business impact of HIV/AIDS, intensity of local competition, prevalence of foreign ownership, business impact of rules on FDI, burden of customs procedures, availability of financial services, ease of access to loans, soundness of banks, regulation of securities exchanges, availability of latest technologies, FDI and technology transfer, Internet users, domestic market size index, GDP (PPP), local supplier quantity, state of cluster development, and extent of marketing.
In an analysis of the same Global Competitiveness Report, the International Trade Barometer of the PUCMM university prepared the Informe Especial Instituciones y Competividad: Resultados del Indice Global de Competividad para República Dominicana.
Read more:
Presidencia
DR1 Forums
PUCMM Bulletin on 2017-2018 Competitiveness Report
El Dia
El Dia
2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Report
6 December 2017
