2009 – Page 292

The 140-kms Independence Road Cycling Tour, in its 30th year, starts Sunday, 22 February. The event ends 2 March. The tour is regarded as a leading cycling tour in the Caribbean and is in the top five for Latin America and the Caribbean. 12 teams and the host Dominican Republic are expected, with more than …

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Economy & Planning Minister Temistocles Montas says the government is giving priority to investments in the productive sectors. The minister says that proof of coherence in government economy policy is that the country has averaged 8.3% growth over the 2005-2008 period with an average sinflation rate of 6.5%. The bureaucrat maintains that the economic policy …

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Minister of Industry and Commerce (SEIC) Jose Ramon Fadul has called for a meeting within the next two weeks with reps of cement companies operating in the DR and the directors of the Tax Department and Customs Department. The meeting would be to verify the production costs and profit margins of the sector. The official …

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Exports were down 5.7% and imports were up 8.5%, Hoy newspaper reports yesterday, looking into US-DR bilateral trade. The DR trade deficit with the US was US$2.62 billion, which compares to a US$169 million surplus in 2004, explains economist Luis Vargas, using US Department of Commerce data. Since 2005, the trade deficit has been growing. …

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The National Association of Gasoline Retailers (ANADEGAS) reiterated its negative stance regarding the government’s intentions to purchase the Shell gasoline stations as a way to guarantee that the state does not lose the investment in the purchase it made of the shares owned by Shell in the Dominican Refinery. Juan Ignacio Espaillat, the president of …

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According to the National Council of Business (CONEP), several articles in President Leonel Fernandez’s proposed Constitution affect property rights and free enterprise. In a sweeping and detailed document, jointly produced with the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), and the Association of Industries in the Dominican Republic (AIRD), the CONEP criticizes that the Constitution takes …

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Civil Defense reports the preliminary toll of collapsed houses in the Carlos Diaz section of Tamboril, in the central Cibao Valley is 67 houses that were completely destroyed by landslides after the intense rains of last week and the week before. Meanwhile in the Juan Veras and Palo Quemado sections of the Luperon Touristic Highway …

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The Political Committee of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) approved last night the dishonorable expulsion of those legislators that support the proposed extension of the current legislative period. Reinaldo Pared Perez, the secretary general of the government party, who chaired the meeting in the absence of President Leonel Fernandez, told reporters from all of …

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A total of 1,059 inmates were released from the penal system during January of this year, but 1,498 were interned during the same month, bringing the total inmate population in the Dominican Republic to 17,150. (16,593 men, 557 women) According to the Director General of Prisons, Major General Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez, the data …

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The Supreme Court ordered the arrest of several persons tied to the Captain Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo drug case, while the investigative organizations of the nation are on the track of another three persons wanted for extradition. Paulino Castillo (Quirino) reportedly reached a deal with the US justice, and the arrests are the consequence. The …

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