Why is there a scarcity in coins – the 1, 5, 10 and 25 peso currency? The mystery is solved.
Listin Diario reports that Haitians entering for market day take back the coins. These are melted to make jewelry. The practice has been happening for years.
Journalist Ricardo Santana interviewed several in Dajabón, a border province with Haiti. He explained that Haitians admitted to hoarding the coins to take them to blacksmith workshops in their country where they are melted and sold to jewelers, mainly in the cities of Cap Haitian and Port-au-Prince.
The merchant Jael Louis told the Listin Diario reporter that the Haitians make rings, earrings, rings and ornaments for chains.
Louis said that because the material used to make the Dominican Republic’s coins is of good quality, people, mainly women, easily buy the final product.
For Louis, it is difficult for the Dominican authorities to detect and eradicate this practice, taking into account that there is a growing commercial exchange between Haitians and Dominicans on the border and that his compatriots use Dominican currency for this purpose.
In Haitian towns near the Dominican border, such as Ouanaminthe and others, the Dominican peso circulates normally.
“The Dominican authorities cannot check everyone to see if they are carrying coins from the Dominican Republic. And if they could, they cannot take the coins from them, because these could claim they are traders who do business with Dominicans,” he commented.
Another merchant Georgina Jean, said that the jewelry-making practice is not new. “There are many Haitians who have always made a living out of it,” he says.
He added that in Haitian localities near the Dominican border line, the Dominican currency flows due to the active trading and Haitians take advantage of this and take the coins back to their country.
“I have a small grocery store in Ouanaminthe and I have no problem receiving gourdes (official Haitian currency) or Dominican pesos,” he said.
Jean added that other Haitian merchants residing in border communities do the same.
“However, we are going to have to buy in Dominican territory and to make our transactions we have to do it in pesos,” he said.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
2 June 2022