2003 – Page 74

Economist Frederic Emam-Zade wrote a humorous column in today’s El Caribe, posing a fictitious dialogue between friends. One says he needs dollars and the other tells him how to do it outside of the normal course of events. Scenario No. 1 had the man depositing pesos into an account in the DR and the man …

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A baby girl was born with two heads on Wednesday, 10 December at the Felix Maria Goico (Los Billeteros) public hospital in Santo Domingo. Neurological studies indicate that each of the heads has a brain, according to the director of the hospital, Rafael Borrome, who spoke to the Listin Diario. Benjamin Rivera, the neurosurgeon who …

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According to a report in Hoy newspaper, the Dominican air force is about to acquire 20 new aircraft, including planes and helicopters. There are also plans to build new airstrips, said the air force chief Virgilio Sierra Perez, who did not reveal the costs involved. Speaking at a parade at the San Isidro Air Base, …

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Finance Minister Rafael Calderon has said that the proposed 5% tax on exports which has caused such dismay amongst the business community is not flexible. “Come rain or shine,” he said, the legislation for the tax would be passed through Congress next week, despite opposition from the private sector. “It is not negotiable and the …

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Presidential Office Technical Secretary Carlos Despradel has said the rising cost of living means that more and more Dominicans are finding it hard to make ends meet, and he called on all parties to unite in a crusade to save the peso. Despradel accused the business sector of self-serving behavior in its statements against the …

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Cristian Reyna writes in a letter to the editor of Hoy newspaper that the government should look elsewhere for its revenues and not burden the business sector with more penalties. According to Reyna, business is not to blame for having contracted -against the advice of most of the private sector – the direct and indirect …

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El Caribe newspaper’s “En la cosa” column reported yesterday that despite the calls from the International Monetary Board and the country for more financial transparency of government and banking accounts, the Central Bank economic reports are being thinned out. El Caribe comments that the September 2000 report, without attachments, had 73 pages. That of June …

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Bienvenido Alvarez Vega alerts that the RD$125-billion national budget for 2004 to be proposed by the government breaks the pattern followed in previous years – that of presenting a budget at the same level of the previous year’s budget. This year, the government has prepared a budget whose spending level will be 60% more than …

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US envoy Roger Noriega, United States Assistant Secretary to the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, continued his high-level visit to the Dominican Republic yesterday, with a meeting with President Hipolito Mejia along with US ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Hans Hertell. Finance Minister Rafael Calderon, Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkum, Presidential Technical Secretary Carlos …

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The opposition PLD party interpreted Noriega’s earlier pronouncements, as reported in yesterday’s DR1 news, as a message that the United States government, with its call for transparent elections, did not wish to see President Hipolito Mejia consolidate his power. PLD politician Felix Jimenez said that the US “would not allow Hipolito or anyone else to …

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