The International Monetary Fund mission chief to the Dominican Republic has spoken favorably of the Central Bank’s efforts to strengthen monetary controls. Marcelo Figuerola said in a communique released on Wednesday evening: “The Central Bank has embarked on a strengthening of monetary control to increase demand for peso-denominated assets and reduce the inflation rate significantly in 2004. Auctions of Central Bank certificates are helping reverse the significant expansion of the monetary base experienced in recent months. In addition, the Central Bank has, this week, raised its policy interest rates to make them generally positive in real terms, and we welcome this action that will be further supportive of the authorities’ inflation-control efforts. Recent monetary policy actions need to be seen in the broader context of the authorities’ efforts to stabilize the economy and restore sustained growth. Thus, the authorities are making significant progress in implementing measures in other policy areas aimed at early conclusion of the first review of the country’s Stand-By Arrangement with the Fund.” In mid-December of last year the IMF concluded a round of talks with Dominican authorities, announcing that a “technical agreement” had been reached, although there was widespread speculation that the IMF was unconvinced by the government’s measures. Just US$120 million of the US$618 million approved in August has been disbursed to date. The rest is pending the authorities’ compliance with IMF demands over the next two years. The statement is published on the IMF website: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2004/pr0409.htm