Central Bank governor Héctor Valdez Albizu reported that the Monthly Economic Activity Indicator (IMAE) for November 2021 closed with an inter-annual variation of 13.1%, higher than expected, with which the January-November 2021 growth stood at 12.5%. “With this result, the conditions are in place for the Dominican economy to close 2021 with an expansion that could exceed 12.0%, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America,” said the governor.
Valdez Albizu noted that the level of activity in November 2021 level was 4.3% above the level in November 2019, before the pandemic.
He mentioned the sectors that contributed most to the annual growth were: hotels, bars and restaurants (38.3%); construction (25.1%); free zone manufacturing (21.2%); transportation and storage (13.0%); commerce (11.8%); local manufacturing (11.0%); other service activities (5.8%); and energy and water (5.3%).
Other highlights of the economy as of November 2021 are:
• Non-resident passenger arrivals are expected to reach 5 million visitors by the end of 2021, reflecting a strong rebound of the tourism sector.
• Cumulative inflation to November 2021 stands at 7.71% and year-on-year core inflation at 6.63%.
• Remittances and total exports continue with significant dynamism, with year-on-year growth to November 2021 of 11.2% and 21.7%, respectively.
• The current account deficit for 2021 is projected to be around 1.9% of GDP, with remittance inflows exceeding US$10 billion in 2021. This deficit would be covered 1.7 times by foreign direct investment flows, which would be around US$3 billion by the end of 2021.
• As of 30 November 2021, the Dominican peso has appreciated by 2.5%, contrary to the depreciation observed in the currencies of most Latin American countries.
• International reserves are expected to end the year at close to US$12.8 billion, equivalent to 6.5 months of imports and 13.8% of GDP.
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Central Bank
3 January 2022