Franco Uccelli, who covers the Dominican Republic for the Bear Stearns Wall Street brokerage firm, is optimistic that the DR will make payment on the interests due before the 30-day grace period expires on 23 February. “We have received official assurances that the payment will indeed be made as soon as the Central Bank is able to convert the pesos it received from the Finance Ministry for that purpose into dollars. This should happen sometime between the end of this week and the middle of next week,” he writes in his update on the DR issued today, explaining that the payment is necessary in order to get the IMF standby arrangement program back on track for February. Furthermore, he indicates that the Central Bank is sourcing dollars to make several hard-currency payments that include US$27 million for the sovereign bond payment, a payment due to power company Cogentrix for US$16 million and other official and miscellaneous debt payments totalling about US$5 million. Uccelli explains that since the IMF will not lend to those in arrears on capital market debts, these payments must be made at least 5 days (according to the Central Bank) before the IMF Board votes, on or around February 11, on the restoration of the country’s suspended stand-by agreement.