The dominican economy It grew on average 5.1% during the period in January-November 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year, and the country is the economy with the greatest year-on-year increase compared to its Latin American peers.
In the month of November the growth was 3.9%, compared to the same month last year, according to the Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE).
This performance is supported by the significant contribution of the activities that make up the services sector, which showed a cumulative increase of 5.4% compared to the same period of the previous year, highlighting hotels, bars and restaurants (9.4%), financial services (9.2% ), energy and water (7.9%), transportation and storage (5.7%), trade (4.8%) and professional services (4.8%). On the other hand, the mining and quarrying sector fell 5.1%, according to a statement from the Central Bank (BCRD).
You can read: TSE would begin 2025 without pending electoral contentious files
In the month of November, the local manufacturing sector grew 6.7%, services 4.9%, free zone manufacturing 2.1% and mining and quarrying 1.9%, while the construction sector fell 4.9%.
He Central Bank highlights that this growth has taken place in a context in which year-on-year inflation at the end of November was 3.18%, remaining in the lower part of the target range of 4.0% from December 2023.
In detail, the growth of hotels, bars and restaurants is explained by the arrival of passengers through the different airport terminals, which at the end of November reached 7,651,571 tourists, which added to the 2,291,088 cruise passengers totaled 9,942,659 visitors. It is expected that by the end of the year the number of visitors will exceed 11 million.
The growth in financial intermediation activity so far this year is explained by the expansion of 11.8% of the credit granted to the private sector in national currency, equivalent to an additional RD$190,946.5 million compared to November of the previous year.
The growth of the construction sector is a reflection of the increase in sales volumes of the main inputs used in the development of infrastructure works. Specifically, local cement sales in metric tons grew 3.5% during January-November 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year.
The BCRD explains that although mining has registered a negative variation in these months, it has presented positive results since August, supported by the increase in gold production in the country’s main deposit, predicting favorable behavior for the coming months. In another order, agricultural activity registers increases in the production of bananas, bananas, avocados, eggs, chicken, among others.
The BCRD highlighted that the economic performance of the USAwith an annualized quarter-on-quarter growth of 3.1%, an expansion rate higher than the long-term historical average, has contributed favorably to the Dominican economy, given the country’s multiple interrelationships with its main trading partner through various channels such as remittances, tourism , net exports and foreign direct investment. n
