2004 – Page 155

Yesterday, the Diario Libre newspaper?s headlines told of the ?disappearance? of RD$28 million that was supposed to be used in other projects for the Chamber of Accounts, the governmental accounts auditing office. The report filed by Senator Tonty Rutinel Dominguez and given to the President showed that the money went to salary increases, per diems …

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Dominican authorities will go to bat for the Dominican sugar industry, whose members are unhappy about opening the Dominican market to sugar imports after a 15-year period without any reciprocity being granted. The difference in the commercialization of sugar between the United States and the Dominican Republic could delay the signing of the bilateral free …

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The US Coast Guard is enforcing new shipping regulations for boats arriving from the Dominican Republic at ports in the US. In a meeting between the Coast Guard, the US Embassy, shippers and Dominican military and naval authorities, officials from the United States revealed that ships from the Dominican Republic have not yet fulfilled the …

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The Listin Diario reporter Candida Acosta asked Elena Viyella de Paliza about the proposed tax reform and got this answer: CONEP feels the state should present its tax reform proposal before next month. The determined business leader explained how the private sector wants the new reforms to guarantee investments and the ability to compete in …

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Pedro Silverio, the director of the CenAntillas economic think tank and research center at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, feels the government should pick up the bigger half of the tab for the economic crisis this time around. Writing for El Caribe newspaper, he says that over the past three years the private …

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The Dominican middle class has been most affected by the present economic crisis. El Caribe newspaper reports that inflation has swallowed as much as 79% of the average wage earned. The highest ?minimum wage? that is paid in this country lost 52.2% of its purchasing power when compared to 2002 figures, in spite of an …

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Free zone manufacturing companies pay new workers RD$3,561, or about US$75, a month. In December of 2002, at an exchange rate of RD$18 to US$1, a worker earned almost US$200. In bars and hotels, minimum wages range from RD$3,975 to RD$2,560 depending on the size of the business. Private watchmen are paid RD$4,160 or US$84 …

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Ana Mitila Lora writes today that Dominican politics has reached such a level of ?sophistication? that it appears that not even the usual mediators in their priest?s garb serve the purpose anymore. The new ?experts? in managing conflicts such as this long ongoing transition are imported from the mother country, Spain. Reports such that the …

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Following up on the Jimani floodings, the new figure for recovered remains now stands at 410, while people continue to search for an explanation as to what happened, reports El Caribe newspaper. The answers being given stretch from the technical to the mystic. Some, like Pedro Santana, the supervisor of Education in the area, say …

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Father Rogelio Cruz, the fiery community leader who now works in the dioceses of San Francisco de Macoris, told a television audience that although Jimani suffered more deaths, the northeast of the Dominican Republic suffered more damage and is more vulnerable to hunger and epidemics. Father Cruz warned of starvation and disease, because many of …

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