ANEIH considers that there is a lack of political will to promote national production, especially agribusiness, and thus control increases in the prices of goods and services.
The National Association of Companies and Industries of Herrera (ANEIH) considers that monetary policies are not enough to face inflation, but also a policy aimed at promoting national production, especially agribusiness.
By participating as guests in TODAY’s Economic Meeting, Noel Ureña Ceballos, president of ANEIH; Cándida Mejía and Euri Andújar, directors, said that the international crisis, which was first health due to the effects of covid-19 and which today is economic due to the measures taken by governments worldwide to encourage demand, has resulted in high levels of inflation.
They understand that the initiative implemented by the central banks in many countries and the Federal Reserve of the United States (Fed) to increase the monetary policy interest rates to restrict money in circulation and thus curb the demand for goods and services to control inflation it is a “recipe” that no longer works as it did in the past, before the pandemic.
We invite you to read: Abinader: «Social aid has been doubled in favor of the people»
In that order, they added that despite the world crisis there is an increase in the demand for raw materials, which increases their costs and to this is added the rise in the prices of maritime transport, as well as the delay in deliveries.
They emphasize that the Dominican Republic cannot control these external factors, which is why an effort is required in the country between the public and private sectors to allow palliative measures to be taken to counteract this situation a little.
Among the initiatives they suggest “focusing” on national production, taking into account that the Dominican Republic is a privileged country for agricultural crops, since everything that is sown is harvested, which will allow, for example, to reduce the import of flour from wheat, increasing the corn harvest for the production of flour as a substitute.
Also promote coconut production and install a large processing plant, which would serve to extract raw material for the production of different products, including cosmetics and industrial oil extraction.
In addition, give added value to the production of cocoa, so that it is not only exported as a raw material, but its industrialization generates more benefits that remain in the country.
They believe that with the development of agribusiness, the country will depend less on imports, not only to guarantee food, but also to help increase exports to other international markets.
ANEIH directors reiterate that national production is the key to developing countries, which is achieved with an up-to-date, active industry that focuses on customer needs because it meets international quality standards.
You can also read: The dilemma of the Central Bank’s monetary policy rate
They also emphasize that there are many alternatives to reduce the impact of international inflation, therefore what is needed is political will, after assuring that it has always been in the private sector. They suggest that sectors must be prioritized and define which ones need to be promoted.
That is why the industrialists insist that not only with monetary policy measures such as those taken by the Central Bank, which has raised interest rates six times in a row, inflation can be curbed, but also with flexibility initiatives to encourage national production.
In that order, they mentioned the programs of financial entities for the benefit of MSMEs.
In addition, they point out that they agree with imports in areas in which the country is not self-sufficient, because it is necessary to continue supplying consumers with the goods they need, but not to the detriment of local production.
