In his state of the nation speech on Monday, 27 February, President Leonel Fernandez summed up percentages of his two consecutive governments to render a positive report on his administration. He told an audience of enthusiastic government officers: “We are much better off now”. He presented his administration as one that had made significant contributions to what he described as a democratic-institutional revolution, another revolution of public health and at the state university, the UASD. <\/p>\n
He stressed the large number of public works and the sustained economic growth. He stated that despite the world financial crisis, the Dominican economy had grown 4.5%, more than the Latin American average of 4.3%. He said that direct foreign investment was up US$474.8 million in 2011, for a total of US$2.37 billion, making it one of the countries in Central America and the Caribbean to attract the most foreign capital. He says the Dominican peso has only depreciated 3.3%, in contrast to currencies in Mexico, Brazil and Chile that have declined around 10% to the US dollar. He highlighted the long-standing agreements with the IMF and controls to the electricity tariff. He also used statistics to show that public investment in education was up 500%. He said that from a budget of RD$12.7 billion in 2004, the budget is now RD$45.8 billion in 2012 and would be RD$58.5 billion in 2012. He also highlighted having granted 10,000 masters degree and scholarships for studies abroad and 14,000 scholarships for studies in Dominican universities. <\/p>\n
In his speech, he said that poverty rate had declined 10 points, going from 42% in 2004 to 32% in 2011. He said this means there are 800,000 fewer people living in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic, which he attributed to government welfare programs. <\/p>\n
The full speech can be downloaded from www.presidencia.gob.do\/app\/do_2011\/article.aspx?id=14944<\/p>\n
\u201cHoy estamos mejor que 8 a\u00f1os atr\u00e1s\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n