2004 – Page 267

Reporters from El Caribe say that the Dominican Republic negotiating team was stopped dead in its tracks when the United States team placed a position paper on the table that repeated the terms of the Central American Free Trade Agreement and requested that 85% of US exports be received with no taxes. According to the …

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Pistas bulletin, prepared by Elsie Done-Molina for the Unidad de Productos Inteligentes de Recursos Globales, reported that Industry & Commerce Minister Sonia Guzman, who also heads the Dominican negotiating team, said that the US wants to be part of the solution to Dominican problems, and will not grant fewer concessions than those given to Central …

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Few people know much about Law 173, but its function is to protect the right of Dominican companies to distribute foreign brands in the country. According to Mario Mendez, the economic editor of Hoy newspaper, an important business sector is deeply preoccupied with the current negotiations going on regarding the Free Trade Agreement with the …

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The Listin Diario reports that the Inter-American Development Bank has US$400 million in preferential loans awaiting the IMF’s approval of the standby agreement with the Dominican Republic. Enrique Iglesias, president of the IDB, made the announcement in Monterrey, Mexico, as he talked with President Hipolito Mejia. Iglesias assured the Dominican leader that the directors of …

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The Central Bank announced yesterday that the official inflation rate for 2003 was 42% — more than it has ever been in the past 10 years. The Central Bank chose not to factor the increases in the power rates in their calculations, reported El Caribe. The monetary authorities are optimistic for 2004, as they set …

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Leading economist Pedro Silverio unleashes a salvo against the thinking of the Central Bank officials and their attempts to control the exchange markets. Silverio comments that the surge of the informal exchange market in December came as a “surprise” only to the government, as it was obvious to all the other players that military intimidation …

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The economic section of the El Caribe reports that dollars are scarce on the market. Commercial banks were offering RD$46-RD$47 for every dollar, up more than a peso over Monday’s rate. But most exchange houses did not have any dollars for sale. According to El Caribe, the cause of the new devaluation was the RD$100-billion …

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The San Pedro de Macoris Electric Company, generally known as Cogentrix, has asked the Dominican government to return the US$10-million operational guarantee deposit as one of the conditions to the renegotiation of their apparently unbreakable contract with the CDEEE. The company also requested an extension on the deadline to pay the mounting debt under that …

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In his political maneuvering yesterday, President Hipolito Mejia managed to keep his three prime PRD opponents, Milagros Ortiz Bosch, Enmanuel Esquea Guerrero and Rafael Subervi Bonilla, from getting on the ruling PRD convention ticket. Only Santiago physician Frank Joseph Thomen, who has no known political track record but is described by news commentators as a …

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Orlando Gil writes in his political commentary in the Listin Diario today that the decision to go ahead with the primary is not a solution, but rather a demonstration of the strong differences within the PPH splinter group itself. Gil says that the original plan of the PRD leaders was to suspend the primary and …

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