2003 – Page 288

The government has reached an agreement with the electricity distributors that will soften the blow of an announced 20-percent hike in the March electric bills. The government created a RD$200-million fund to absorb approximately half of the increase that would have otherwise been levied on residential consumers. The Transitional Attenuation Fund for Electric Rates will …

Read more…

German institutional investors having acquired sovereign bonds issued last July in New York City visited President Mejia yesterday to investigate the rise in the exchange rates. The President assured the representatives of the Deutsche Bank that recent measures had halted the rise in the rates and that the current trend predicts a lower peso-to-dollar ratio. …

Read more…

The government is feeling the pinch of the rising cost of acquiring dollars. Despite the devaluating peso, the government had saved nearly RD$1 billion by fixing the exchange rate for its own transactions at RD$17-US$1. Hector Linares writes in the Listin Diario that the elimination of hte subsidy last week alone cost the government RD$4 …

Read more…

Hoy newspaper calls it ?shocking? that the Central Bank has not released its annual economic performance report for 2002. The newspaper highlights that the lack of timely information on the performance of the Dominican economy is being noted in comments by investors and businessmen. While it has traditionally been forthcoming on a punctual basis, for …

Read more…

El Caribe newspaper reports that Jose Miguel Ventura Asilis, the promoter of the Haina-Santiago train concession in the Dominican Republic, was sentenced to two years in jail for irregular payments made to government officers and members of the ruling political party in Puerto Rico, the Partido Nuevo Progresista, to obtain the contract from the Fondo …

Read more…

The front page of the economic section of El Caribe reports that the financial sector of the Dominican Republic has confidence in the stability of the national monetary system. Yesterday, the President and his economic team met with representatives of the banking system, the exchange houses and the remittance companies to review the performance of …

Read more…

The president of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce and Production, Luis Jose Bonilla Bojos, said yesterday that his organization is completely in favor of the government?s planned reduction of the public payroll. Bonilla Bojos said that the downsizing would certainly help the nation?s economy, and that the money saved could be used to improve the …

Read more…

As reported in the Listin Diario, the Executive Branch promoted 4,094 policemen on Tuesday. Included among these, are 15 who were promoted to the ranks of brigade generals. Earlier last week, the Executive Branch had announced the promotion of 8,000 within the ranks of the Navy, Army and Air Force. The promotions come with significant …

Read more…

Today?s economic section of El Caribe reports on the quantity of motorcycles and other vehicles in the Dominican Republic. According to the article, there are 1,349,556 motorcycles in the country, 493,139 cars and 248,847 cargo vehicles and trucks. There are also 79,186 Jeeps (generally SUVs) and 38,000 private buses. There are 513 ambulances and 88 …

Read more…

Elena Viyella de Paliza, referred to as ?Elenita? by Hipolito Mejia, told the press yesterday that the voluntary retirement program that the President has assigned to the newly created presidential commission to reduce payroll is a very good program. During an interview at Hoy newspaper, Viyella de Paliza, who presides the commission, told the Corripio …

Read more…