2004 – Page 105

President Hipolito Mejia has chosen to address the nation tonight, 12 August, at 8pm, following a cabinet meeting. The speech will be televised on Channel 4, the state television station. On Monday, 16 August, President Mejia also announced that he would place the banner of President on his successor Leonel Fernandez and remain until Fernandez …

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Sociologist Ramon Tejada Holguin wonders in his contribution to El Caribe newspaper today what President Hipolito Mejia was referring to when he said he had fulfilled 99% of his 2000 presidential campaign promises. Tejada Holguin says he has consulted several statistical experts to try to make sense of the statement. He requested values that would …

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With the issue of Decree 820-04, President Hipolito Mejia has changed the name of the Las Americas highway to that of Autopista de Las Americas Presidente Antonio Guzman. The Las Americas highway is the east link of the city of Santo Domingo. The Mejia administration concluded a great part of the expansion works of the …

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The government announced it had issued checks for RD$250 million on the debt with the contractors of the Pan American Games venues. The contractors say the government still owes them RD$190 million. Upon making the payment, Public Works Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado said, “We did our part by carrying out the constructions in the allotted …

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Manuel Jimenez, Presidential Palace reporter for Hoy newspaper, tells about a new category of political patronage jobs created by the Mejia administration that few knew about. He explains that when President Mejia replaced Luis Eludis Perez as consul in New York City, he created a US$5,000-a-month custom-made job for Perez, so as not to exclude …

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Diario Libre writes today on how banks and loans and savings associations have done great business by taking advantage of the government policy of ?saving depositors.? The newspaper highlights in a front-page story today that banks attract deposits at rates under 25% and then deposit them to the Central Bank at double the yield. In …

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The government of President Hipolito Mejia could be leaving the payment of the US$27 million due on the 2013 sovereign bond up to the next administration. Central Bank Vice-Governor Felix Calvo told Hoy newspaper that the notification to make the payment was never received from Finance Minister Rafael Calderon. The payment is actually past due, …

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Guillermo Caram, a former governor of the Central Bank and leading PRSC politician, expressed today his wish that legislators reject the tax reform proposal being studied in Congress. He hopes the bill presented by the PLD technicians, based on recommendations made by economists that the Mejia government had contracted, be rejected by the members of …

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Economist Luis Manuel Piantini, a member of the Monetary Board and former longtime deputy governor of the Central Bank, warned that if the proposed tax reform currently under study in Congress is passed as is, it would bring major downward adjustments in private spending, which would complicate the road out of the present recession. He …

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Pinturas Tropical has launched a paint that is being marketed as an effective repellent of mosquitos, flies, roaches, aunts and acaro. Marketing director Carlos Lorenzo says the product has been selling well and uses the same technology that is common in Europe. The technology works because the material is porous and in the tiny openings …

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