Speaking shortly after taking office as Secretary of Finance, Fernando Alvarez Bogaert, announced that the country?s public debt exceeds DR$8 billion (around US$49 million), roughly twice as much as the Fernandez administration had previously disclosed. Bogaert explained that the larger sum includes the unpaid public debt which ?represents a deficit like any other.? Since November last year, the public deficit has doubled due to the skyrocketing cost of petroleum in international markets, according to Bogaert. Fiscal imbalance has been also precipitated by the unrestrained growth in the government?s personnel rosters and costs of construction mega-projects inconsistent with income. The government has an unpaid debt of US$200 million with the three independent power producers and distributors. It has also subsidized the differential in fuel costs between international markets and pump prices, depleting its dollar reserves by more than half during the past four months. Bogaert affirmed that a fuel price increase is inevitable and must come quickly in order to shore up the country?s hemorrhaging fiscal reserves.
