An article written by former President Leonel Fernandez that appears in Listin Diario newspaper on 11 April 2022 looks into the bill that recently passed in the Chamber of Deputies that would eliminate taxes on 67 food staple imports for six months. In the analysis, Fernandez explains it creates a unilateral free trade scheme for six months. The Ministry of Economy has backed the bill saying it would mitigate imported inflation. This is disputed by the former President who says it will create unfair competition for local producers.
The zero tariff bill allows for duty-free import of beef, pork and chicken meat including separate ingredients, breast, thigh and wings. Also included in the list of 67 items are powdered milk, butter, margarine, garlic, beans, wheat and corn flours, beans, animal and vegetable fats and oils. Pasta, cooked and uncooked, peas and lentils are added. Also bread, in its various forms and even frozen bread.
The bill sent by the Presidency was amended in Congress and the imported products now would need to comply with the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements demanded by the Dominican state. Also added was that the government could limit the import of these products through the allocation of quotas.
The bill is to counteract inflation, yet just recently Homero Figueroa, spokesman for the Presidency tweeted inflation here has been relatively low compared to increases in the food price abroad. His tweet: “The Dominican government reported that food prices in the country varied by 0.96% in March, even though the food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) increased by 72.6% in the same period.”
Homero Figueroa explained: “International price increases are reflected in local food prices; but not in the magnitude of global rises, because the Government applies policies to support production and consumer protection to manage this global crisis”.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
N Digital
11 April 2022