2004 – Page 21

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are at loggerheads over the Dominican government’s decision to not eliminate but rather increase the exchange commission from 10 to 13% of the amount of dollars needed to import anything in hard currency. Hoy reports that the WTO sees the foreign exchange commission as …

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The president of the Dominican Association of Housing Promoters and Constructors (ACOPROVI), Jose Rodriguez Caceres, told reporters from the Listin Diario that the lower cost of dollars, cheaper hardware materials, and lesser interest rates have not created lower prices on new housing units because of salary increases, bureaucratic red tape and higher taxes. The association …

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The director of the Diario Libre writes the A. M. column this morning and warns the readers of two dilemmas that are facing the Dominican Republic. The country is at a crossroads. A lack of information immobilizes our limbs and makes our brains work on something that apparently does not have a logical and precise …

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D’La Mona Plaza is to be constructed in the middle of the Mona Passage between the island of Hispanola and Puerto Rico, right in the middle of the route used by small craft boats for transferring illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. According to the headline story in the Diario Libre, it …

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The Department of Customs has authorized its customary tax-free import of gifts for friends and relatives up to US$1,500. Of the total, US$1,000 corresponds to the value of the gifts, and another US$500 allotment is approved for personal use items. The measure benefits Dominican expatriates who have not visited for the past six months. The …

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President Leonel Fernandez spoke out against the Law of Primaries yesterday, saying it was pushed through Congress and approved without the consensus of the political parties, reports Diario Libre. On the other hand, PLD political mastermind and Presidential Secretary Danilo Medina supports its application. He told newspaper reporters that he is “totally in favor” of …

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The Executive Branch has announced it will send Congress a budget that entails a record 71% increase over the previous year’s amount. Despite the appreciation of the peso on exchange markets, which reduces government expenses, as well as expectations for reduced inflation and presidential announcements of government austerity, the authorities chose to budget RD$207 billion …

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Bear Stearns issued a report today on the Dominican Republic’s economic performance, using the Central Bank’s recently published third-quarter report as a basis. Franco Uccelli, who follows the Dominican Republic for the firm’s emerging markets sovereign research department, focuses on such positive aspects as the GDP’s 1.4% expansion from January to September; inflation’s downward trend; …

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Jose Luis de Ramon of Grant Thornton told his audience speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce breakfast event that the main reason for the peso’s recent appreciation is that the supply of dollars is up at a time when the demand for dollars is low in the Dominican Republic. He explained that monetary emissions …

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The government announced it would pay its 13th Christmas salary to government employees from 9 to 12 December. This means an additional RD$2.7 to RD$2.8 billion will be circulating on behalf of the government. The private sector is expected to disburse its Christmas bonus paychecks on or around 15 December.