2004 – Page 118

The Centro for Economic Research in the Antilles (Cenantillas), the economic think-tank at the PUCMM university, is warning that if government spending is not sharply curtailed a new tax reform will be needed within two years. Economist Pedro Silverio, who heads the organization, told reporter Jairon Severon from the Listin Diario that a government?s debt …

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President Hipolito Mejia bid the Dominican delegation to the Athens Olympics the best of success to from the Presidential Palace yesterday. The Dominican Republic is sending 40 athletes as well as 18 delegates and coaches, comprising the largest Dominican Olympic team ever. The DR has been participating in Olympic competition since the 1964 Tokyo Games. …

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With reports abounding on the crisis situation at the nation?s hospitals, President Hipolito Mejia rebuffed the notion that these public services had collapsed. Mejia, who visited the Padre Billini Hospital in Ciudad Nueva yesterday, said that the problems at the medical facilities are owed to the fact that he would not implement the ?immorality? of …

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Although it?s nothing new, with Smith-Enron?s power plant in Puerto Plata having shut down, the northern areas of the country are seeing longer blackouts as a consequence. As reported in the DR1 Forums, even the state-run Edenorte office in Puerto Plata has been unable to operate, as they do not have power to run their …

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The national postal service (INPOSDOM) has announced the assignment of postal codes to all neighborhoods in Santo Domingo. The five-digit codes, which are displayed online at http://www.inposdom.gov.do, are being implemented to expedite the classification of mail. As reported in Diario Libre, the plan is to make the use of the postal codes obligatory.

President Mejia has ordered Congress to stay on the job. Decree 699-04 opens the special legislative session from 27 July through 15 August. Regular sessions are to resume on 16 August with the start of the new government. At present, hearings with the private sector are being conducted regarding Congress?s study of the tax reform …

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El Caribe newspaper continues to focus on the possibility that the Attorney General?s office may be behind the questionable release of certain convicted criminals this coming 16 August. The newspaper says that Attorney General Victor Cespedes Martinez admitted last week that he had asked the police to arrest a prisons supervisor accused by several inmates …

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Given that the normal route to Constanza is being affected by landslides, especially at Casabito, the Public Works Ministry has announced that heavy-truck traffic making the journey is to be diverted to the road from Jarabacoa. This is a longer route, however, and several sections of this road are also in bad condition as it …

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The ?Coctelera? column in Hoy newspaper comments on how commercial banks are behind the proposal to charge RD$0.15 per RD$100 issued in checks, instead of taxing the yields on certificates of deposit. The writer says that these banks own as much as 70% of the funds deposited to the Central Bank, many of which earn …

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The PLD?s mega-projects man, engineer Diandino Pena, told El Caribe that included on the PLD government agenda are the constructions of several major infrastructural works. As such, Pena justified to El Caribe, as published in its Sunday edition, the hefty sought-after increases in taxation. During the last years of the Fernandez administration, Pena had been …

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