The Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) presidential candidate, Luis Abinader, the frontrunner to win the 5 July presidential election, announced new strategies to create 600,000 formal jobs during his government. In the Dominican Republic most of the jobs are in the informal sector.
In a statement made at the meeting with the National Business Council (Conep), Abinader explained that the crisis generated by Covid-19 has introduced elements that must be incorporated into his government plan.
“We have carefully analyzed how to achieve this objective. The growth of our economy has been based on domestic demand and specifically on the growth of sectors that produce non-tradeable goods, such as construction, health, finance, and communications. It is time to implement a true export policy, because only in this way can we reverse the informality of the labor market and bring about an improvement in the wage levels of our labor force,” said the PRM candidate.
Abinader proposes: to implement an aggressive policy to double the number of companies in free zones, with emphasis on local linkages; to eliminate from the calculation of the income tax advance payment the proportion of income that originates in the exported value; and to train the foreign service to promote foreign investment into the country, as well as the export of Dominican products and services abroad.
He announced he envisions the implementation of laws on freedom to transport cargo and the development of tourism beyond “beach and sun.”
“The Government of Change will create the conditions to expand the supply of tourism services and simultaneously implement an aggressive policy to seek new markets for visitors and expand existing markets,” he stressed in his message to the business community.
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9 June 2020