The Minister of Finance and Economy, Magin Diazurged yesterday that Dominican society agree to promote the reforms that the country needs before facing a crisis, and not after, as he recalled that occurred in the transformations of 1992 and 2004.
“The challenge is reform before of a crisis. “That does not mean that there is an imminent reform, but it does mean that we must discuss it,” he stated.
Díaz pointed out that there are accumulated distortions for years that must be corrected gradually and intelligently, so as not to affect the social stability. Among them he mentioned the lack of indexing of various taxes and public fees that have been frozen for almost a decade.
He indicated that the income tax has not adjusted its exempt minimum for years, the price of fuel has not been indexed since 2015, the cost of tag has remained fixed since 2017 and that the values of the properties do not reflect the current market, which affects collection.
“Let’s talk about everythingnot just one thing. The Government has avoided adjustments so as not to affect the population, but there are distortions that must be corrected,” he said.
The official insisted that a more realistic price and tariff scheme would allow the economy to function better at medium term.
Combat evasion
Magin Diaz He stressed that the fight against tax evasion is a central axis of the current administration and assured that the Government will take the necessary measuresalways following due process.
“Not many people can teach me how to combat evasion. We know which sectors are being most affected and we will act accordingly,” he said.
Debt and growth
The head of the Treasury and Economy maintained that the country’s debt is “perfectly sustainable” if the responsible management current. He recalled that the local capital market has matured since 2006.
Furthermore, he defended the government goal to boost productivity and increase public investmentespecially in infrastructureas a way to sustain growth in the medium term.
He explained that the economy is going through a period of slowdown, growing at half its potential. To counteract this, he said that the Government increased the public investment adjusting the budget within the framework of the fiscal rule.
Magin Diaz spoke about these issues when participating as guest speaker for the Industrial Association of the Northern Region (Airen) at its annual lunch.
The meeting, headed by the president of Airen, Luis José Bonilla Bojos, gathered industrial leadersgovernment authorities and business representatives of the Cibao.
Within the framework of the activity, plaques of recognition for her contributions to the industrial sector were presented to the vice president of the Republic, Raquel Penaalready Rafael Santos Badiadirector of the National Institute of Vocational Technical Training.
