{"id":251324,"date":"2026-05-12T08:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=251324"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T12:39:11","slug":"free-zones-sector-up-7-8-in-march-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/05\/12\/free-zones-sector-up-7-8-in-march-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Free zones sector up 7.8% in March 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"336\" src=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Crecimiento-Zona-Franca-Presidencia.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-251303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Crecimiento-Zona-Franca-Presidencia.png 600w, https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Crecimiento-Zona-Franca-Presidencia-300x168.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reports that the national economy expanded by 4.1% during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. This growth was significantly bolstered by the free zone manufacturing sector, which posted a notable 7.8% increase in March alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to official data, overall economic activity grew by 5.1% year-on-year in March, driven by the real value-added performance of several productive sectors. Free zone manufacturing emerged as a primary catalyst for this momentum, hitting a historic monthly export ceiling of US$841.2 million, an 8% year-on-year rise for the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Service exports and employment<br>Johannes Kelner, executive director of the National Council of Free Zones (CNZFE), emphasized that the sector&#8217;s impact extends beyond traditional manufacturing. Kelner noted that service-exporting firms within the free zone regime generate approximately 38,000 jobs and more than US$1 billion in exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The impact of the regime could reach approximately 10% [of the economy],&#8221; Kelner stated. &#8220;We are currently in discussions with the Central Bank to support a measurement framework that more comprehensively incorporates these export services.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investment and strategic value<br>The BCRD report further highlights the continued confidence of international markets in the Dominican Republic. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reached US$1,536.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. Of this total, the free zone sector captured 7.6%, representing an inflow of US$117 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more in Spanish:<br><a href=\"https:\/\/presidencia.gob.do\/noticias\/zonas-francas-consolidan-su-crecimiento-con-expansion-del-78-en-el-primer-trimestre-de\">Presidency <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>12 May 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reports that the national economy expanded by 4.1% during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. This growth was significantly bolstered by the free zone manufacturing sector, which posted a notable 7.8% increase in March alone. According to official data, overall economic &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/05\/12\/free-zones-sector-up-7-8-in-march-2026\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251337,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251324\/revisions\/251337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}