2003News

Dollar is out of control

The headline of Hoy newspaper is implicitly clear: Dollar out of control. According to the paper, after a three-day absence on the market, dollars reappeared yesterday and promptly broke the psychological barrier of RD$25 to US$1. Nevertheless, most exchange houses said that they didn?t have any dollars to sell. Most agents the Hoy reporters talked to said that there must be some hoarding of dollars occurring for the price to be so high. Yesterday afternoon the commercial banks requested an urgent meeting with the officials of the Central Bank. Other reactions included that of the Customs authorities, who again raised their exchange rate on imported goods by 45 points to set it at RD$22.50 ? a rise of RD$1.05 in the past two weeks. The president of the Dominican Federation of Commerce (FDC), Ivan Garcia, told reporters from Hoy newspaper, among others, that the biggest problem is the hoarding of dollars by small groups in order to control the market.