He Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported yesterday that the Dominican economy maintained a solid performance in 2024, standing out as the leader of that sector in Latin America.
He explained that the gross domestic product (GDP) Real recorded a 5.0 % increase in 2024 compared to 2023.
The country’s economic result took place in an environment of price stability, with a inflation interannual that remained within the lower limit and the center of the target range of 4.0 % ± 1.0 % throughout the year, closing 2024 in 3.35 %, the lowest annual variation of the consumer price index (CPI) in the last six years.
Regarding the indicator of inflation interannual underlying, which keeps a closer relationship with the monetary policy By excluding goods and services With volatile or regulated prices, this was 4.01 %, being maintained around the center of the objective established by the Central Bank.
Through its preliminary report, he indicated that, by analyzing the evolution of economic activity during 2024, it is observed that the GDP Real quarterly expanded at year -on -year rates of 4.5 %, 6.1 %, 5.1 %and 4.1 %, respectively, in the four quarters of the newly elapsed year.
“This trajectory is consistent with lags in the transmission mechanism of the monetary policy In a context of appreciation of the dollar in international markets, especially in the second half of 2024. In that sense, the active management of liquidity at domestic level was conditioned by the behavior of external interest rates, particularly in the United States , where monetary conditions remain in restrictive field, “the institution explained.
Greater growth sectors
As for sectors that more contributed to the average expansion of 5.0 % of the GDP Real in 2024, according to the BCRD, the sector stands out services As a whole, with a growth of 5.5 %, within which the activities, bars and restaurants (9.6 %), stand out for their remarkable performance, services financial (8.3 %), energy and water (7.0 %), transport and storage (5.7 %) and trade (5.5 %).
Dominican tourism
The report states that, in particular, the added value of the activity hotels, bars and restaurants presented an interannual variation of 9.6 % at the end of the year 2024. The behavior of this sector was largely driven by the arrival of 8.5 million tourists by air. Likewise, the arrival of 2.6 million cruise passengers contributed through the different ports of the country. In this way, by adding the tourists Air via and the cruisers, last year “the historical figure of 11.2 million visitors not resident to the country was reached.”
Also, the BCRD explained that remittances registered the figure of 10,756.0 million dollars In 2024, for an interannual variation of 5.9 %. In the case of the direct foreign investmentthis added about 4,512.0 million dollarsexceeding 4,000 million for the third consecutive year.
The BCRD indicated that it is estimated that currency income They reached about 43,500 million dollars In 2024.
