The Ministry of Industry & Commerce (MICM) reports that over the past two years the free zone manufacturing sector has been breaking records in numbers of jobs and volume of exports. Industry & Commerce Minister Victor (Ito) Bisonó highlights in a MICM press release the increases in jobs as the sector drives the national productive chain and the growth of exports.
Minister Victor (Ito) Bisonó highlights that even with the challenges of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the sector has become a catalyst for national economic recovery by maintaining sustained growth, especially in the first quarter of 2022. According to data from the Social Security Treasury (TSS), the free zone sector reports 188,761 direct employees, the highest number in the last 20 years.
Likewise, between 2020 and 2021, purchases of inputs by free zones to local companies were up 23%. Free zone industries purchases in the local market increased from RD$83.59 billion in 2020 to RD$103.05 in 2021.
The Ministry of Industry & Commerce is implementing an industrialization plan to motivate more local linkages between free zones and local suppliers. Bisonó likewise attributed the dynamism experienced in recent years to the correct application of public policies in favor of their development and the favorable climate for foreign investment in the country.
The total accumulated investment in the free zones reached a historic figure of US$5.9 billion in 2021, 14% more than the previous year. Exports in 2021 were a record US$7.17 billion, 22% more than in 2020.
The Ministry of Industry & Commerce forecasts the growth trend will continue in 2022, as between January and April of this year, exports of manufactured goods in free zones have already totalled US$2.51 billion.
In the Dominican Republic there are 80 free zone industrial parks and 734 free zone companies.
Free zone workers are concentrated 20.7% in tobacco and tobacco products companies, 19.5% in textile manufacturing, 18.4% work in service free zones and 16.1% work for companies that manufacture medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
The MICM announced that in the first four months of the year, 3,587 jobs have been added with the installation of 31 companies that received their operating permits and have invested close to RD$2.5 billion. The state entity projects that this 2022 the growth trend that the sector is experiencing will continue.
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Ministry of Industry & Commerce
17 May 2022