The Dominican Republic’s savings and loan associations are receiving 58% of their income from deposits in the Central Bank. The Central Bank’s policy, designed to lower the quasi-fiscal deficit, has lowered the earnings on “investments” made by the S&Ls and is pushing the associations to look for better income on their credit operations. While in 2004 the income from interest collected from investments was 57.98 % of income, in the first eleven months of 2005 this figure fell to 53.78% of income. The savings and loan associations invest their depositors’ money in certificates from the Central Bank that were paying high interest, but which in recent months has fallen dramatically, from a high of 61% to just 11% in recent weeks. With the lower interest rates from the Central Bank, the S&Ls are now looking for better opportunities for their depositors’ money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Dominican Republic’s savings and loan associations are receiving 58% of their income from deposits in the Central Bank. The Central Bank’s policy, designed to lower the quasi-fiscal deficit, has lowered the earnings on “investments” made by the S&Ls and is pushing the associations to look for better income on their credit operations. While in … <\/p>\n