The Presidency has announced the start of payment of the 13th wage for government employees. The government is the largest employer in the Dominican Republic. Yesterday, the first employees received their “double” check that is expected to stimulate the economy as people go on their traditional Christmas spending spree. The Presidency announced that a first allocation of RD$7 billion was made yesterday, Thursday 6 December. The first beneficiaries included the employees of the city government of Santo Domingo East. Mayor Juan de los Santos announced that the payments were made from the municipality’s own funds and that a loan was not necessary. As reported in El Dia, Santo Domingo East became the first of 155 city governments nationwide to distribute the Christmas wage.
National treasurer Alberto Perdomo announced that as of yesterday morning RD$5.8 billion had been paid out. The first to benefit were retired government workers.