The head of the Dominican Association of Exporters (Adoexpo) says he doubts whether the DR is really among the top Latin American export countries. Yesterday, the Interamerican Development Bank (BID) announced a study that showed the Dominican Republic second only to Mexico in export growth during the ‘90s, with exports increasing more than 15%. Horacio Alvarez of Adoexpo says even though the BID’s announcement is beneficial to the country, it isn’t real because the BID adds together exports from free zones and traditional exports such as coffee, sugar and tobacco which have been declining recently. Moreover, he told El Siglo that the BID analyzed statistics from the ‘90s, a decade in which the free zones and other economic sectors were growing. In his opinion, the DR could not be part of the BID’s successful group of export countries as long as the government penalizes exporters with the exchange commission, the need for Consular Invoices and the retention of hard currencies , while not offering any incentives to exporters.
