The president of the Dominican Free Zone Association (ADOZONA), Arturo Peguero, said yesterday that more than 32,000 workers have been laid off this year, and that 48 free trade zone companies are currently registered as inactive. According to a report in Diario Libre, he said many of the closed companies have made severance payments to their employees and have settled their debts, but have not notified the Ministry of Labor. The data supplied by Peguero does not tally with the Central Bank, which said there have been 8,500 lay-offs in the free zones in the first six months of this year.