2005 – Page 166

The Dominican government has increased the budget – originally approved for RD$206.59 billion – to RD$212.47 billion, according to numbers from the Integrated System of Financial Management (SIGEF), a branch of the Ministry of Finance. Besides the 2.84% increase in spending, there were some cutbacks on other items. When El Caribe reporters asked Julio Ortega …

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The Tax Department (DGII) reports that only 11% of vehicle owners have renewed their license plates to date. The general public has until 3 August to obtain the new stickers that represent a renewed license. Vehicles made before 1999 will pay RD$1,200 for the sticker and later models will pay RD$2,000. There are telephone services, …

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The World Bank (WB) is concentrating its efforts to obtain policies that allow for transparency in the handling of public funds and the resolution of the electricity crisis, according to Christina Malmberg Calvo, WB assistant manager in the Dominican Republic. Referring to the electricity crisis, Malmberg Calvo said that the main problem is not so …

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The Venezuelan ambassador to the Dominican Republic has reaffirmed his country’s opposition to the transportation of petroleum from Venezuela in privately owned ships. The Venezuelan ambassador Francisco Belisario Landis notified the Ministry of Foreign Relations that under no condition would it permit that such companies transport the oil it supplies without prior agreement, and he …

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Experts from the United States Department of Agriculture are inspecting the first Dominican facility specifically designed to pre-treat mangos for export to the United States. The pre-treatment is designed to certify that Dominican mango exports are free to access the US market. The DR to this day is free of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis …

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Orkos, a leading European catalogue company selling exotic and natural products, has just discovered the ‘banilejo’ mango and is promoting it extensively to its members. Renaud Anselin, a leading local mango agribusinessman, said that they have been shipping five tons of mangos a week by airplane to the European buyer. He explained that in the …

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World Environment Day saw the Dominican Republic with a growing environmental deficit. Incursions into restricted “green belts” and public lands by builders is just one of the issues pending in Greater Santo Domingo. The process leads to a degradation of the bio-diversity of the areas that are supposedly protected by law around the Mirador del …

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The leaders of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce and Production, Ricardo Fondeur, Ivan Reynoso, Oliverio Espaillat and Jose Dario Suarez, spoke at the Economic Encounter sponsored by Hoy newspaper. The main topic for discussion was the pending fiscal revision and tax reforms. According to SanCham spokesperson, Ricardo Fondeur, the new reform is intimately linked to …

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Fully 70% of the injuries reported in the Dominican Republic are the result of some sort of traffic accident, most of which are caused by alcohol consumption, careless driving and violations of Traffic Law 241. Traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death in people between the ages of one to 44 years. Nationwide, they …

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There is no way that the different distributors of electricity can guarantee 24 hours of electricity for the population. The cost, according to their estimates, would be US$100 million per month, according to Ruben Bichara. Bichara, Ede-Norte and Ede-Sur’s administrator, told El Caribe reporters that the rising cost of oil (now US$55 a barrel) has …

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