2004 – Page 223

The Bear Stearns brokerage firm reports that the Dominican Republic bonds substantially underperformed the BSCAX February index for the Caribbean and Central America that covers 29 countries in the region. The BSCAX index tracks around US$12.6 billion in emerging market debt, including 36 bond issues in 10 countries through the Caribbean and Central America. The …

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President Hipolito Mejia announced yesterday that former Tourism Minister Rafael Subervi Bonilla (he was replaced by his wife Miguelina Ortiz) would be his running mate on the PRD Presidential ticket, as reported in the Listin Diario. Mejia proposed that Subervi join his re-election efforts nationwide. The announcement by Culture Minister Tony Raful to the press …

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Ana Mitila Lora writes in her “Mochila al Hombro” column in Listin Diario today on the concern that patronage practices are deeply entrenched in the Dominican way of doing politics. She says this is evident in the supposed conditions that secretary general of the PRD, Rafael Subervi Bonilla, would have made to President Hipolito Mejia …

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Journalist Marino Zapete reports in the Cafe Bambu online news service that Central Bank Vice Governor Felix Calvo issued Central Bank Memorandum No. 2167 to Santiago Tejada, manager of operations and services of the same institution, instructing him to purchase US$84,283.20-worth of tickets to the Caribbean Series. The series was held in Santo Domingo during …

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The most recent government scandal revolves around a generous Executive Branch Christmas present, whereby 43 top government officers received authorizations to import vehicles “for their personal use” while paying minimum taxes, or an “impuesto unico.” The story was first leaked to the public by journalist Julio Martinez Pozo on Z-101’s “El Gobierno de la Manana” …

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PRSC presidential candidate Eduardo Estrella criticized the Central Bank’s issuance of new savings certificates at record-breaking market rates. In an interview with Hoy newspaper, the former Santiago senator said that the certificates, which are being promoted by the Central Bank as an instrument to reduce money in circulation and strengthen the peso, serve to diminish …

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El Dia newspaper reports on the long line-ups of visitors to the Central Bank yesterday interested in participating in the first auction of RD$9 billion in savings certificates at 50% annual percentage rate (APR). The newspaper explains how many of these people had the pesos deposited in commercial bank accounts making 21-23% interest.

In an interview in today’s Diario Libre, University of Miami economics professor Michael Connolly expressed his favour for an eventual dollarization of the Dominican Republic. To do so right now, however, would be too risky because the Central Bank would not be able to rid itself of pesos not backed by gold (or by dollars) …

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Hoy newspaper reports today that Representative Donald Payne (Democrat-New Jersey) asked that the government explain why the US recently sold 3,500 arms to the Dominican Republic, a country from where former Haitian paramilitaries admit they organized the violent rebellion that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. US Capitol Hill sources report that members …

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Apparently, President Hipolito Mejia found the US State Department’s report of last Monday too close for comfort, and in his comments at the Police Academy’s graduation ceremonies he asked for a naming of names. He said that “all over the world” institutions are vulnerable to corruption and narco-trafficking. He requested that the US name which …

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