El Caribe reports today that the government announced it would lift the restrictive monetary program in place since early February. He [who?] said that the limit established on bank lending has been removed. The measures had been implemented to hold the depreciation of the peso and would have expired on 1 March, but were later extended to 15 April. The measure is expected to bring relief to the rising cost of borrowing in the Dominican Republic and the related interest rates that now hover at around 40%.
Finance Minister Rafa?l Calder?n said that the 10% surcharge on imports would be maintained until its expiry date of 17 May. Calder?n also said that the Central Bank would succeed in placing most of the RD$5 billion in savings certificates through private banking. These certificates hold attractive interest rates of 24-28% and are currently on the market.
Calder?n forecast that the year would end with a growth rate of 3.5%, inflation between 9-11% and the entry of US$1 billion in foreign investment. The IMF has predicted year end growth of 1.7% in 2003 with a 14.4%. This would be the lowest growth in the past 13 years, but would still be above the average for Latin America which is 1.5%.