2004 – Page 5

After several days of intense lobbying and suspended sessions, the Senate and the government agreed to suspend the 25% tax on soft drinks using High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) imported from the United States from the proposed free trade agreement. The two groups of negotiators also agreed that in January the Senate could take under …

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For every gallon of gasoline that is bought by the general public at RD$79.30, the government takes RD$31.36 (or 39.56%). Premium gasoline has a 42.75% tax and diesel just a 16.83% tax, although the price of a gallon of diesel is not the same as a gallon of regular gasoline, according to El Caribe. Nonetheless, …

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Rafael Molina Morillo of Hoy newspaper comments on the report published by German Marte in the newspaper yesterday whereby the government will provide funding for 3,366 non-governmental organizations, “for supposed works of social interest that no one supervises.” He points out that with the exception of Rehabilitacion, Corazones Unidos, and a few others, most of …

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The Association of Commercial Banks of the Dominican Republic (ABA) issued a statement yesterday that called the Rules for Evaluating Assets issued by the Central Bank “rigid and counterproductive, and therefore impractical.” The ABA said that they hoped the monetary authorities would review and clean up the rules. Bank representatives are estimating the effects of …

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Geoff Gottlieb, associate economist for Goldman, Sachs & Co, disagrees with comments made by Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa who this week declared that the DR has cleared its arrears with external creditors after paying off US$362 million in the last four months. Sachs does not believe this is true and writes that the situation is …

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Geoff Gottlieb of Goldman Sachs & Co. issued a 22 December release focusing on the key issues regarding the debt restructuring in the DR. He believes the government and the IMF have still to reach agreement on this issue in January. His summary of what is pending is: 1) By end 2004, the authorities plan …

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The Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic has removed another judge for poor performance. This time the figure involved Judge Francisco Antonio Inoa Bisono of Santiago de los Caballeros who was found guilty of serious faults in the exercise of his functions. According to Diario Libre, the nation’s highest court accepted the opinion rendered by …

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Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez, the chief of the National Police, told reporters from the Diario Libre that the police colonel arrested in connection with the truck filled with 1,387 kilos (one and a half tons) of cocaine had been scrutinized back in 1989 following a complaint by a Pedernales parish priest. No …

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The Listin Diario leads with the ongoing investigation into ex-Army Captain Quirino E Paulino Castillo, the alleged ringleader of a local drug smuggling operation with international implications. Paulino Castillo was arrested on Sunday, along with three others, in connection with the discovery of a truck carrying 1,387 kilos of cocaine whose estimated value was put …

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Hoy newspaper reports today that former Army captain, Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo (alias “El Don”) who was arrested for complicity in the trafficking of 1,387 kilos of cocaine, had been sworn in as a member of the PRD party when he was an active military member. The newspaper publishes a photo showing Paulino raising his …

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