Santo Domingo – The Governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, Hector Váldez Albizu, highlighted the important role played by the free trade zone to recover the economy in the period January-December 2021, so he said during the press conference where he announced the figures of the Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE),
“Without a doubt, the free zone sector has been a determining factor in the economic recovery, the reception of direct foreign investment and the creation of jobs,” said Governor Albizu. The free zone manufacturing sector had one of the most significant variations with (21.2%).
A great year for the free zones.
Between January and December 2021, the National Council of Export Free Zones (CNZF) approved 100 new free zone companies with an investment of approximately US $ 231.5 million that projected the generation of 12,575 direct jobs, according to the data announced by the minister of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes (MICM), Víctor -Ito- Bisonó, during the last session of the year of this council that he also chairs.
This sector closed the year with 734 companies operating in 79 industrial parks and more than 182 thousand direct jobs, a record number in the last 15 years. This helps to maintain the positive outlook due to the strong recovery of private investment as well as the public policies promoted to recover the free zone sector, backed by President Luis Abinader and his government team. With this result, the conditions are in place for the Dominican economy to close the year 2021 with an expansion that could exceed 12.5%, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America ”, stated the governor.
