2001 – Page 6

Listin Diario reports that despite the announced government policy to give priority to education, health and agriculture, government support to those ministries declined from January to September of this year, compared to the same period in 2000. The government instead has given priority to the Ministry of Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior & Police and …

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El Caribe newspaper says five government departments had spent more than their entire year’s budget by September of this year: Secretary of the Presidency (RD$443.1 million more) Ministry of Finance (RD$2.6 billion more) Ministry of Interior and Police (RD$1.5 billion more) Ministry of Labour (RD$222 million more) Ministry of Tourism (RD$123 million more).

The president of the Association of Furniture and Mattress Producers (Asonaimco) said the sector is in a state of emergency, El Caribe newspaper reports. Manir Slaiman spoke at the opening of the National Furniture Fair at the Feria Ganadera yesterday. He said the sector has been affected by foreign imports, lack of access to borrowing …

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Celso Marranzini, president of Petroquimica Dominicana, the nation’s leading exporter to Central America, urged the country to strengthen its exporting policy. “The only way to grow is through exports,” he told El Caribe newspaper. He said there is no global policy that reflects the importance of the sector and grants facilities to its manufacturers the …

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The law firm of Russin Vecchi & Heredia Bonetti has announced a strategic alliance with the firm of Martinez Aponte & Associates. Martinez Aponte will now be in charge of corporate consulting. Aponte has been Minister of Finance and Minister of Planning for the Dominican Republic in addition to years of experience working as an …

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The Ministry of Public Works announced it has distributed RD$508 million among contractors of several important public works that were budgeted in the 2001 National Budget but were on hold or proceeding at a slow pace because of lack of funding. The money was allotted to the new Duarte Bridge (RD$30 million, to be completed …

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The Deputy Environment Minister, Rene Ledesma, is urging foreign investors not to heed the advice of local business promoters who tell them that anything goes here and that environmental protections do not need to be followed if you have the right contacts in this country. El Caribe newspaper reports that Ledesma says the promoters are …

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President Hipolito Mejía and Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch announced the start of the RD$300 monthly subsidy for parents with children in public schools. The program was announced earlier this year as part of the government’s social compensation program after it increased taxes in January. The program will start with 20,070 children and is expected …

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President Hipolito Mejía and the board of the Dominican Medical Association have agreed on a 10% increase to the government’s subsidy to public hospitals. The medical association also agreed on a two-week waiting period for the government to increase doctors’ salaries.

The Ministry of Culture is inviting the public (?) to an open debate on the future of the tourism industry tonight in the Colonial City. The talk will start at 8:30 pm at the Centro Cultural Rodrigo de Bastidas, Calle Las Damas, Colonial City (next door to the Fortaleza Ozama). The speakers will be newly-appointed …

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