In his weekly television interview, President Hipolito Mejia revealed the six ingredients in the recipe that Treasury Under Secretary John Taylor left him for repairing the Dominican economy. As reported in El Caribe, Taylor said the first point was to finalize the negotiations to renew the standby agreement with the IMF, which will include the congressional approval of the temporary 5% tax on exports and the necessary adjustments to the finances of the electric sector. The second ingredient is the end-of-year approval for the 2004 Budget, which will include the adjustments required by the IMF Agreement. The third step will be the start of the disbursements by the IMF and other international financial agents such as the IDB and the World Bank. The fourth step will be the strict adherence to the IMF agreement on the part of the Dominican government. In his comments, President Mejia said that this was an important point, especially after what happened when the government took over the Edes from the Union Fenosa. The fifth element will be the talks and agreements relating to tax reforms to take place during the electoral campaign, and which will prompt the reforms after the elections of 2004. On this point, the business sector has expressed a very different opinion that requires the tax package to be prepared in the very short term and without the interference of the Presidential election campaign. The final ingredient in the Taylor Formula is the need to take into consideration the effects that the forthcoming Free Trade Agreement with the United States will have on the Dominican economy.