The winner of the presidential elections on 5 July 2020 gets a basket full of major problems. Besides having a country in the throes of a major, worldwide pandemic, the newly elected administration will receive what many journalists describe as a “devastated economy.” The biggest hurdle to conquer is the restart of the economy, with a push for productive sectors in these Covid-19 time.
These efforts might well be overcast by the possibility of rising petroleum prices as the OPEC nations try and drive up the price of oil. The Dominican Republic remains heavily dependent on imported oil, both for transport and power generation.
President Medina has added RD$150 billion to the National Budget, and received millions from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with economic stimulus and mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 on the poorest sector of the population. The IMF approved US$650 million (RD$378.5 billion) to steady the economy. The national debt has increased significantly to fund the relief operations.
In the case of the Dominican Republic, the Central Bank has a decreasing amount of reserve hard currency on hand. Nevertheless, Hector Valdez Albizu, the governor of the Central Bank, says that the fundamentals of the DR economy are solid, and will serve to support a faster than average return to economic sustainability, “with low inflation rates and macro-economic stability.”
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N Digital
6 July 2020