2003 – Page 236

In a move aimed at curbing speculation in the US dollar market, the Monetary Board yesterday imposed a ban on loans and credit lines for owners of exchange houses. Agents must now disclose details of all loans and credit lines. The restrictions come at a time when the peso has hit a new low of …

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Bear Stearns? Sovereign Latin America Update, dated 21 May 2003, reports on the impact that the Baninter debacle is having on the country?s creditworthiness and how Dominican society will pay the price for several more years, for what it calls the corruption and mismanagement of that bank. Bear Stearns is a leading worldwide investment banking …

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Following a meeting with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, President Hip?lito Mej?a announced that a contingent of 250 Dominican soldiers would be sent to Iraq to help with post-war reconstruction projects there. The exact nature of the Dominican contribution has yet to be defined. The President also discussed other forms of military …

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The Central Electoral Board has promised to reach a final decision next week on the status of the 30 March primary elections to decide the presidential candidate for the PRSC. Eduardo Estrella was declared the winner by the party, amidst accusations of electoral fraud made by rival candidate Jacinto Peynado, who came in a close …

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Di?genes Castillo, director of Santo Domingo?s metropolitan transport system (OMSA), has warned that the company could collapse unless the government honors its subsidies urgently. Castillo says that the OMSA has received less than a quarter of its budget allocation, and so has had to cut down drastically on bus services in recent weeks, as well …

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This weekend will see the army joining forces with other state bodies, such as the Education and Environment ministries, to continue their tree-planting campaign in ecologically sensitive areas of the country. The commander of the military?s Ecological Battalion, Colonel Rafael de Luna Pichirilo, explained that the areas targeted for the planting of native species include …

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Judge Doris Ort?z Pujols has summoned Olimpia Gonz?lez, the controversial former president of the Dominican schoolteachers association (ADP), for allegedly embezzling RD$15 million while in that post. The former ADP president has claimed ill health and was given a vice-consular posting in Puerto Rico almost two months ago, although she has not started work there. …

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Walevska Perez Herrera, a Dominican resident of Madrid, Spain, complains that facilities for Dominicans to vote abroad are not available at all Dominican consulates. Responding to a note on the Central Electoral Board?s plan to make voting more accessible to Dominican residents abroad, she called the consulate in Madrid requesting information to renew her c?dula. …

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The United States has decided the Dominican Republic should equally benefit from free trade status such as being considered with Central American nations, according to a communiqu? released from the White House yesterday. The White House statement reads: ?President Bush met today with President Mej?a of the Dominican Republic. They discussed cooperation in the fight …

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The Dominican Republic-U.S. Business Council scheduled its inaugural visit to Washington, D.C. on 19 May to coincide with the high-level working meeting between President Hip?lito Mej?a and President George Bush. The group, put together through the efforts of former US Ambassador in the DR Charles Manatt, is comprised of leaders of the Dominican business community …

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