The president of the Republic, Louis Abinaderhighlighted today the achievements that in his two years of Government have allowed him to achieve successful recovery of the economy.
“(…) During this period we have laid solid foundations so that these disturbances that the international economy is suffering affect us as little as possible. We cannot ignore the fact that many of the problems we have today, such as inflation, which affects and worries the Dominican government and people so much, are global in nature and have causes beyond our country, although we implement actions to mitigate it in the best of our ability,” he said.
“(…) We have approved a package of measures dedicated to confronting the highest international inflationary levels of the last 14 years, since in 2008 year-on-year inflation in the Dominican Republic reached 14%,” said the president.
Louis Abinaderalso highlighted the subsidy strategy that the Government has had to develop from the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Since the war began, the government has deployed a subsidy program for the protection of the lower classes. workers, as well as for the most vulnerable, of 42,800 million pesos, especially for fuel, but also for the rice, wheat and other products. To give you an idea, with all this money you could build 400 kilometers of highways”, he indicated.
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“Our plan has led us to subsidize 100% of the rise in fuels. Not have done, inflation would have increased 6% per year. and we have bet decidedly for the national agricultural production, directly subsidizing the fertilizers and other components used in agricultural production”, he pointed out. Abinader.
Other actions indicated by the president Luis Abinader with which it has been possible to face inflation and that this does not directly affect the pockets of citizens, are transport subsidiesproducts of INESPRE and the get over program.
“Among them is the increase in the direct subsidy to the transport sector to avoid the rise in the price of tickets; and the subsidy of up to 10% on imports of corn, wheat, soy or flour and vegetable fat, as well as the application for 6 months from 0% to the tariffs of the most important products of the basic basket that the national production cannot cover at the moment”.
“We maintain the policy of focused subsidies with the special programs of INESPRE, with the installation of more popular markets throughout the national territory, doubling the warehouses for direct product sales; the increase in transfers to the SUPÉRATE card, the increase in the Bono Gas subsidy and the expansion of food rations in the Economic kitchens, among others, for which we have allocated the sum of 14,540 million”, said Abinader.
“Within the framework of our mission to protect the most vulnerable, through the SUPERATE program, with an investment of more than 41.7 billion pesos, we will benefit 1,650,000 families, with double what they received before the pandemic. Something unprecedented in terms of social protection in our country,” he added. Luis Abinader.
He also stated that the reduction of public debt has contributed to keeping inflation levels below those managed in the region.
“We have the highest level of reserves in our history with 14.5 billion dollars; our employment levels are higher than the pre-COVID stage; tourism is experiencing record growth and the free zones will close this year with the best export data in their history”, pondered the president.
Luis Abinader also pointed out how he found the country’s exchange rate in 2020 and how it is today.
“This government found the exchange rate at 59 pesos per dollar and today it is at 53.80, the Dominican Republic being one of the few countries in the world that has appreciated its currency in all this time.”
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Increase
Luis Abinader, in his speech presenting achievements, highlighted the economic growth that the Dominican economy has been experiencing.
“All this means that we have grown by 5.6% in the first quarter of the year. And the Dominican economy is expected to grow, according to data from the International Monetary Fund and projections from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic for 2022, between 5% and 5.5%,” said Abinader.
