The Center for Economic Research of the Antilles (Cenantillas) is advocating that the dollar be established as the monetary standard of the Dominican Republic. Given the declining value of the Dominican peso in recent months, more and more businesses are setting their prices in US currency so that there has already been a defacto dollarization of a large number of goods and services sold in the Dominican Republic.
As the head of the economic think-tank organization, under the umbrella of the Pontificia Universidad Cat?lica Madre y Maestra campus in Santo Domingo, Pedro Silverio told reporters that adopting the dollar as the official monetary unit of the Dominican Republic would eliminate the uncertainty that the devaluation of the peso produces. He said that the first step towards dollarization would be to determine the volume of dollars needed to begin executing the plan and that a serious effort could lead to a dollarized economy within one year. The idea of a dollarized economy has been very much in the public forum since US economist Jeffrey Sachs told an audience last week that the Dominican Republic was a good candidate to become dollarized, given the integration of the Dominican economy with that of the US. While Silverio admitted that the theme of a dollarized Dominican economy is very controversial, he also said that it was important to consider the different economic problems that have been to blame for adjustments and that have traumatized the acquisition power of the Dominican peso.