2008 – Page 173

The manufacturing sector began to receive the benefits of the Law on Competitiveness and Industrial Innovation as ninety-two companies were released from their obligation to pay the Value Added Tax (ITBIS) levied on ‘anticipated’ sales. This move allows freer use of working capital. So far, 201 requests for this tax relief have been received, and …

Read more…

The transport unions, which exert almost total control over the movement of passengers and freight throughout the country, have met with officials from the Transport Reorganization Office (OPRET), including the chief executive, Diandino Pena. The unions recommended that the government should price diesel fuel at between RD$110 and RD$120 a gallon and LPG (propane gas) …

Read more…

Dominican dairy farmers are saying that they can supply the milk needed for the School Breakfast Program. The Dominican Milk Producers Association (Aproleche) and the Cattle Farmers’ Federation are calling on the administration to comply with Law 27-01 and 180 -01. These laws say that the government social programs should be implemented using locally produced …

Read more…

Civic group Citizen Participation (PC) has labeled the Central Electoral Board (JCE) decision to issue a memorandum (No. 017) that attempts to limit access to birth certificates in a retroactive manner as illegal. According to the group, nobody can deny citizenship to people who were accepted as Dominicans before the publication of the new Migration …

Read more…

The chief justice of the Dominican Supreme Court, Jorge Subero Isa, has told reporters that the appeal process that was filed against the sentences in the BanInter case is nearly complete. The sentences handed down by the Third Penal Chamber of the Court of Appeals were appealed by all the defendants who received prison sentences. …

Read more…

The Attorney General’s office has announced the extradition and transfer to the Dominican authorities of an accused murderer by the Spanish courts. Attorney General Radhames Jimenez Pena told El Nuevo Diario reporters that the person concerned is Alexander Perez Morillo, who is accused of killing Jonny Mateo Valdez in 2006. Perez Morillo fled from the …

Read more…

The National Meteorological Office (Onamet) is forecasting thunderstorms over most of the country for the next 24 hours. A frontal system will cover the area for the next 24-48 hours. The forecast says that a tropical wave to the southeast of the Dominican Republic will bring humidity and a strong tropical wave near Cape Verde …

Read more…

The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL) says that 70% of people living in the DR have a phone. Department director Jose Rafael Vargas said recently that 5,780,028 cell phones were in operation as of the end of March 2008, compared to 705,431 in 2000. Of these 99.7% are digital phones. The spiraling growth in cell phone …

Read more…

Dominican deputies are defending their recent pay raise, which totals RD$58,000, in a year where business sectors have called for government to cut spending. National District Deputy Julio Horton said that money for the raises came from savings from the Congressional budget . Diario Libre writes that the increase was voted on in December and …

Read more…

The Customs Department (DGA) has denied claims by one of its officials, Claudio Almonte, who said that 70% of pharmacies were selling fake drugs. Almonte also said that more than RD$600 million in fake drugs entered the DR last year. In a press release the DGA explained that Almonte’s claims were exaggerated, adding that he …

Read more…