The peso’s devaluation has increased the country’s external debt by 75%, according to a report in the Listin Diario, from the original estimate of RD$7 billion to RD$12.25 billion. In the paper’s economy section, a separate article quotes Jaime Aristy Escuder, an advisor to the Electricity Sector’s Sustainabilty Committee, as saying that the government’s reacquisition of the power distribution companies known as the “Edes” had tacked US$5.7 million (RD$200 million) on to the country’s external debt bill. Finance Minister Rafael Calderon dismissed suggestions that these figures would affect the fate of the frozen “standby” agreement with the International Monetary Fund. “The (IMF) experts are in the final phase of the report and will have it ready in November,” he told reporters yesterday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The peso’s devaluation has increased the country’s external debt by 75%, according to a report in the Listin Diario, from the original estimate of RD$7 billion to RD$12.25 billion. In the paper’s economy section, a separate article quotes Jaime Aristy Escuder, an advisor to the Electricity Sector’s Sustainabilty Committee, as saying that the government’s reacquisition … <\/p>\n