President Hipolito Mejia would meet today with bankers, moneychangers and remittance companies to discuss the current scarcity of dollars. Freddy Ortiz, the head of the Association of Remittance Companies, said that 45 percent of their clients are requesting that monies sent from abroad be paid to the recipients in dollars. This obliges the remittance companies to enter the local market to buy dollars at the going rate of RD$20.65/RD$20.80 to the US dollar. After the government imposed a ceiling on the sale price of dollars, a parallel, unrecognized exchange market has surged, offering dollars at RD$23.50 under the table. In a statement to the press, the Association of Remittance Companies denies that its members are responsible for the hike in the exchange rates.
