Members of the Unión Nacional de Productores de Harina (UNPIH) complained the Medina administration is in arrears with them for RD$700 million. The union groups 204 companies that supply primarily bread and crackers for public school breakfasts and snacks to the Instituto Nacional de Bienestar Estudiantil (Inabie).
The union said they will no longer deliver the products if they are not paid by this coming Monday, 11 February 2019. Aaron David Dinzey of UNPIH said the situation is financially unsustainable. “Not even 40% of the bread producers have received any kind of payment. He said the Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Procesadores de Harina (Cooproharina) is no longer supplying the inputs needed for the bread production.
Rene Jaquez Gil, director of Inabie, nevertheless says that the entity has the RD$6.96 billion to cover contracts with the suppliers. He said they will work overtime to get the payments out to more than 1,000 registered suppliers of breakfast and lunch meals.
The suppliers deliver more than 1.8 million breakfasts to the public schools, but complain they have not been paid in six months. They said they have met with Jaquez on the issue over ten times with no results. They urge the government make good on its word to help the small and medium-sized businesses to avoid their going bankrupt.
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Diario Libre
7 February 2019
