2004 – Page 264

The president of the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, Amaury Justo Duarte confirmed rumors of payment difficulties that are affecting the availability of fuel in the Dominican Republic and now could affect vehicular transport. Justo Duarte told Hoy newspaper yesterday that there is not yet a problem with local inventories of gasoline and diesel, but he said …

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The Central Bank has also been purchasing advertising space this morning, with half-page advertisements aimed at denying the rumor that the CB has planned a further intervention either in the exchange market or an unnamed financial institution. It claims that these rumored reports are part of a deliberate campaign to undermine confidence in the economy. …

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While poultry and pig farmers marched against the free trade agreement currently being negotiated with the United States, US chief negotiator Regina Vargo listed what she considered the necessary factors for restoring economic confidence in the Dominican Republic. Free and fair elections, the signing of the free trade agreement and the IMF agreement were the …

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Today’s newspapers report that the pontoon bridge over the Ozama River, linking the western and eastern parts of Santo Domingo, will not be closed down after all. Recently, it was reported that the company that operates the bridge, Centro Diesel, had threatened to shut it down because the authorities were RD$2 million behind in their …

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It is reported this morning that President Hipolito Mejia is planning to veto the decision announced earlier this week as part of the new law on police reform that would transfer some duties from the transport police force AMET to the command of the general police. AMET director General Pedro de Jesus Candelier, who is …

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The Diario Libre newspaper reports that in a press conference in Washington, DC yesterday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) external public relations director, Thomas C Dawson, warned that the Dominican Republic has not complied with the structural measures required by the Fund, and neither has the IMF received the necessary guarantees from the country’s creditors. …

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Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns writes in a 15 January update that they have received confirmation from high-ranking Dominican government officials that the IMF is indeed in Paris this week, holding talks with the Paris Club of bilateral creditor nations about the Dominican Republic’s current predicament. According to Bear Stearns, the IMF is requesting bilateral …

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The economic consulting company Fundacion Siglo 21 writes in the Listin Diario to compare the present economic crisis with that of 1990. While alerting that the present crisis is not yet over, the company says that the 1990 crisis was felt more acutely than at present, through inflation, devaluation, the falling GDP, increased unemployment, and …

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Hoy newspaper reports that the president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), Luis Arias, has said that the bid by Milagros Ortiz Bosch and Rafael “Fello” Subervi Bonilla to stand as independent candidates in the 16 May Presidential election is “inadmissible” under the terms of current electoral law. Meanwhile, all the papers carry the news …

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The planned demonstration outside the National Congress building in Santo Domingo went ahead in an organized fashion yesterday morning. Hundreds of people from civil society organizations and political parties joined together to protest the controversial Ley de Lemas, or Preferential Presidential Vote, which seeks to reform the electoral system by permitting a party to field …

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