The World Bank Chief Economist for the Latin American and Caribbean Region, Guillermo Perry, said that the timing is not right for emerging countries to place sovereign bonds. A former Minister of Finance of Colombia, Perry favors the DR participating in international capital markets, but warns that the economic woes of Argentina could have a negative effect on the placement of bonds by the DR. President Hipolito Mejia, interviewed yesterday when visiting convalescent former President Juan Bosch, said that he still supports the placement of the US$500 million in bonds. He said that those who think otherwise “are not on the map or are easily deceived (“iluso”) or utopian or do not have the most remote idea of what capital markets are.” For President Mejia, the passing of the bonds is a matter of being “sensible and logical”. He says all the countries in the world are issuing them. He referred to El Salvador’s issuing of US$353.5 million in bonds. The Chamber of Deputies approval is required for the issuing of the bonds. The deputies will meet on Tuesday, 24 July for these discussions.
