2003 – Page 259

DR1 Daily News will not be published tomorrow, Thursday, or on Good Friday. The news for 17-20 April will be compiled for the Monday 21 April edition. Due to the nationwide vacation period, the DR1 Travel News scheduled for Friday 18 April will not be published either. The next DR1 Travel News will appear instead …

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El Caribe reports today that the government announced it would lift the restrictive monetary program in place since early February. He [who?] said that the limit established on bank lending has been removed. The measures had been implemented to hold the depreciation of the peso and would have expired on 1 March, but were later …

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Economist Pedro Silverio debates the recommendation of the IMF technicians that the Dominican Republic should increase taxes. He recalls that only two years ago the country carried out a fiscal reform that increased taxes by about 20%. ?For what good was that?? he posed. In answer to his own rhetoric, Silverio said, ?To pad the …

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The Diario Libre reports that the Dominican Institute for Social Security (IDSS) has an accumulated debt in its pension accounts that has reached an astounding RD$22.93 billion. The deficit in the retirement plan for employees was valued at RD$22.93 billion, or nearly 7% of the gross domestic product, according to the actuarial accounting ordered by …

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Diario Libre reports today that, according to US investigators questioning of arrested pilot Daniel de la Cruz, the Caribair plane that carried a shipment of 455 kilos of cocaine last year left Herrera International Airport in Santo Domingo at 3:30am that day. He confessed during the trial that he had been offered US$200,000 for the …

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According to the principal headline in today?s List?n Diario, the municipal government of Santo Domingo owes the Banco de Reservas RD$24 million for the purchase of 24 minibuses that have been put into service. The banking institution, in a letter dated 8 April 2003, asked Santo Domingo Mayor Roberto Salcedo for payment on a loan …

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A vessel carrying 113 Haitians suspected of trying to reach Florida capsized off the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, near the town of Buen Hombre in the province of Monte Cristi. Members of the Dominican navy and local fishermen helped pluck 91 survivors from the waters, as well as six bodies. There are reportedly …

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The latest census has revealed that the incidence of HIV-positive and AIDS patients in the ?bateyes? (farm worker?s housing, usually in sugar cane areas) has reached 5% of the batey population. More men (5.2%) are afflicted than women (4.8%). Men between the ages of 40 to 44 have a 12% affliction rate, while 8% of …

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Canadian PM Jean Chr?tien and President Hip?lito Mej?a are working towards a free-trade agreement between the two countries, similar to ones that already exist between Canada and Chile and Costa Rica. According to the Prime Minister, ?It is our desire to complete the negotiations and sign the agreement before I leave [office] in 2004.? Chr?tien …

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Prime Minister signs new agreements  Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien welcomed the signing of seven new agreements between Canadian institutions and their Dominican counterparts. The agreements focus on cooperation in trade, power generation, renewable energy and transportation. Chr?tien and President Mej?a signed the agreements during the official part of an 11-day work-vacation visit of the …

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