2004 – Page 234

The British ambassador in the Dominican Republic, Andy Ashcroft, estimates that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund will serve to stabilize the country’s currency. He highlighted the US$400-million investment his country has made in the Dominican Republic, aimed at opening new trade avenues between the two countries. One of these new initiatives is the …

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Adriano Miguel Tejada’s back-page column in Diario Libre provides what he calls “a tasty anecdote” about the advertising policy of “a certain government-intervened newspaper,” which, it appears, refuses to accept political advertisements from a

Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkun told reporters that International Monetary Fund money would not be used in the electoral campaign. Hoy reports that Lois Malkun stated that the IMF agreement will be fulfilled “without worrying about the political consequences that this implies.” Lois Malkun was interviewed at the Presidential Palace, where he announced the …

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Several delegations are working to reschedule the Dominican government’s debts with foreign creditors. The first delegation went to Washington, DC to talk with IMF officials about rearranging debt with the Paris Club, an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor nations. …

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According to the IMF stand-by agreement, medicines will fall under the application of the ITBIS tax (VAT). At the present time, they are excluded from taxation. According to INFADOMI spokesperson Leila Mejia Roldan, the increased cost will make it difficult for low-wage earners to buy medicines that are already very expensive. The most popular medicines …

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President Hipolito Mejia announced yesterday the promotion of 6,333 military, on the heels of the promotion of 1,752 members of the National Police, as announced earlier this week. These advancements are effective 1 March and entail wage increases for the beneficiaries at a time when the government had limited wage increases to 9% given the …

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Alicia Ortega of El Caribe/CDN looks into the frequently denounced police practice of maiming supposed delinquents when sparing their lives. Recently, the police brought the infamous General Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin to Santo Domingo headquarters, where he was interviewed for TV. As chief of the police force in San Francisco de Macoris, Guzman Fermin made …

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Today’s Listin Diario carries two stories that seem to contradict each other. The first, appearing in the lead section, says that a stable dollar will lower the price of chicken. It cites the president of the Association of Poultry Producers of Licey (ASOPOLLON), Jose Lopez, who told reporters that a lower exchange rate could result …

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El Caribe reports that owners of luxurious SUVs are turning to propane fuel in order to get around town. Reporter Daniel Garcia says that since 2003, owners of larger vehicles have increasingly resorted to using the heavily-subsidized fuel to run their vehicles. According to some installers of these systems, the demand for propane gas systems …

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El Caribe says that Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch reacted yesterday to the comment from Hipolito Mejia campaign team that they had not yet chosen the running mate for Mejia by by saying, “If they need a vice-presidential candidate, let them place a classified ad in the papers.” Eligio Jaquez, as chief of President Hipolito …

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