President Louis Abinader highlighted that the remarkable year-on-year growth of the real Gross Domestic Product, which reached 12.3% in the period January-December 2021, has placed the Dominican Republic among the top 10 countries with the highest economic growth in the world in 2021 and consolidates the economy as the most dynamic in Latin America.
In his accountability speech before the members of the National Assembly, in the National Congress, the president reported that the country closed 2021 with the highest level of international currency reserves in history, with 13 billion dollars and with a currency that exhibited an appreciation of 1.4%, contrary to the depreciation observed in the currencies of most Latin American countries.
“In addition, we also said that we would work to attract new investment and we have done so. In the year 2021, the Dominican Republic positioned itself as the main recipient of direct foreign investment in Central America and the Caribbean, with the net flows of this investment being more than 3,000 million dollars”, he stated.
This economic growth, he indicated, and this confidence in our economy occurs at the same time that we reduce the public deficit, going from 7.9% in 2020 to 2.7% in 2021, thereby improving the projections we had of 4.1% for that anus.
In addition, he explained that there was also a decrease in the consolidated debt of the public sector of 6.4 percentage points of the debt ratio, going from 69.1% at the end of 2020 to 62.7% at the end of 2021.
Highest absolute increase in history
“And, in addition, we also manage public companies better, as shown by the good results of Refidomsa or Banreservas, which achieved an extraordinary performance in 2021. Banreservas’ net profits amounted to 16,307 million pesos this year, with an increase of 57% compared to 2020”, expressed Abinader.
And he added: It is the highest absolute increase achieved by a financial entity in the country in all history.
The head of state reported that the results of Refidomsa for the year 2021 were 51 million dollars, far exceeding the results of 2019, which were 19 and a half million dollars.
“In addition, our government acquired 49% of the shares that were in the hands of PDVSA and today we own 100% of Refidomsa, which is now entirely Dominican. Furthermore, Refidomsa expands its line of business by creating a unit for the investigation and possible exploitation of hydrocarbons and will make important agreements in the coming days”, he highlighted.
Reduction of the cost of debt by more than 3 basis points
The official pointed out that the strategies implemented, as well as the successful conduct of fiscal policy, allowed Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings to improve the country’s outlook from negative to stable in the first week of December, which has made it a the only sovereign issuer in the region to receive an upward revision to its 2021 outlook.
In that sense, he specified that the Ministry of Finance, opportunely placed in this month of February sovereign bonds for a total amount of US$2,300 million dollars and jointly with this issue, a liability management transaction was carried out for US$1,100 million that allowed to reduce the cost of debt by more than 3 basis points.
“These issues had a historical demand for more than 8,500 million dollars, that is, 2.4 times the amount required. This fact reaffirms the confidence of international investors in the Dominican economy and in the financing policy carried out by this Government”, assured Abinader.
He also said that during the year 2021 the country’s labor market has shown a significant improvement and that according to data from the Dominican Social Security System, at the end of last year, formal employment reached 2,166,578 workers (including the public and private sectors). , with an increase of 12.79% in relation to the previous year.
He added that when comparing this number of workers for the year 2021, with the pre-pandemic level in the year 2019, it is observed that the employed population registered an increase of some 53,874 net workers, higher than the level of said period.
“Since April 2021, 22,000 formal jobs have been created per month, according to statistics from the Social Security Treasury. One of the largest increases in our history. But the most important milestone in labor matters is the dignity of Dominican workers with the proclamation of an unprecedented wage increase, “he said.
President Abinader also highlighted that through a Resolution of the National Salary Committee, the National Minimum Salary for workers in the non-sectorized private sector was increased by a weighted average of 24% and combat inflation.
He explained that the minimum wage was increased by an average of 23% in the tourism sector, and an increase of 21% was established over the national minimum wage for workers in the industrial free zone sector.
Leveling of civil pensions to Ten thousand pesos
“In addition, at the beginning of this year, we leveled all civil pensions to Ten thousand pesos, impacting more than 90,000 people, except for the solidarity pensions of 6,000 that will remain at that amount, although their number will increase this year,” he revealed.
Abinader maintained that these measures represent a great achievement for his administration because they come to improve the quality of life of a large segment of the most vulnerable sectors of the country.
