Santo Domingo.- The price of gold exceeded 4,596.91 dollars per troy ounce, experiencing an increase of 70.9% compared to the prices recorded for that raw material last year.
According to data from the Central Bank, the yellow metal surpassed this barrier after an increase of 6.9%, when it was at $4,299.63 per troy ounce last month.
These prices place the Dominican Republic with room to increase foreign exchange earnings for this year. This raw material was positioned last year as one of the products with the highest exportable value in the country, being the main star product according to data from Data Market, from the Export and Investment Center of the Dominican Republic (ProDominicana).
The Commodity Price Report of the International Department of the Central Bank indicates that precious metals were influenced by the global uncertainty generated by the conflicts in the Middle East, expectations of a cut in interest rates from the Federal Reserve System and a record demand from the central banks of emerging economies, resulting in greater demand for these commodities as a safe haven asset.
The rise of this metal is not recent; It comes from the Covid-19 pandemic, with the uncertainty generated after global mobility restrictions. For November of last year, the price of gold averaged US$4,083.0 per troy ounce, which represented an increase of 54.0% compared to November 2024, along with a monthly increase of 0.7%.
“This value exceeded by US$833.0 the estimate of US$3,250.0 per troy ounce used in the complementary General State Budget (PGE) for the year 2025,” explains a report from the General Directorate of Internal Taxes, noting that this performance was influenced by an international environment of marked economic uncertainty and renewed geopolitical tensions, which reinforced the demand for gold as a safe haven asset.
For last year, in the months of January-September 2025, the added value of mining and quarrying activity registered an interannual growth of 3.7%, reversing the 6.5% contraction observed in the same period of 2024. “This positive performance was driven, to a large extent, by the increase in the production of gold (6.6%), silver (3.2%) and sand, gravel and gravel (1.0%). In contrast, the production of gypsum and copper was reduced by 15.0% and 8.0%, respectively,” indicates the latest update of the preliminary results of the Dominican economy.
In the aforementioned period, gold production showed an increase of 6.6%, consistent with the interannual variations of -8.1% in January-March, 18.3% in April-June and 9.0% in July-September, highlighting a recovery starting in the second quarter of the year. In turn, the exported volume showed a growth of 8.3% in the aforementioned period, driven by the high price of this metal in international markets and supported by the expansion of the extraction plant in the country’s main deposit.
The behavior of that metal, the economist Henri Hedrad, indicated that for 2 consecutive days with quotes exceeding the historical level of US$4,600/ounce, which means that the current value this afternoon (US$4,614.80/ounce) exceeds by US$1,926.01 the price from a year ago when the ounce of gold was quoted at US$2,688.79, equivalent to a huge interannual growth of +71.6%
“This has a very favorable double impact for the Dominican economy in 2026. First very favorable impact on the balance of payments side,” he stressed.
He pointed out that as a result of the sharp rise in gold prices So far this year until July 2025, gold and silver exports reach a record level of US$1,193.8 million, that is, a growth of +57.5% above the US$758.0 million exported in the same period of 2024.
He referred to data from the latest monthly collection report of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII), in which he indicates that the taxes paid by Barrick Gold have skyrocketed by +156%, going from RD$7,566 million (until July 2024) to RD$19,436 million (until July 2025) thanks to a contract that ensures that, every time gold prices rise, and therefore the profitability of the Pueblo Viejo mine, the collections from the three main taxes (Net Smelter Return, Income Tax and Profit Sharing Net) skyrocket, as shown by what happened during the year 2025.
He understands that in the future, assuming that the works to expand the production capacity of Pueblo Viejo are completed in the next three years, collections can be projected that end up exceeding RD$50,000/year, so it will be necessary to develop a law that ensures that this extraordinary money from the gold mine serves exclusively to finance investments in development projects, so that the country can “seed mining” throughout the national geography.
The macroeconomics expert indicated that another very favorable impact is on the fiscal accounts, due to the important impact that the price increase has on the collections of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII).
According to the latest DGII report until November 2025, the taxes paid by Barrick Gold have skyrocketed by +138%, going from RD$12,747.9 million (until 11-2024) to RD$30,312.0 million (until November 2025), thanks to a contract that ensures that, every time gold prices rise, and therefore the profitability of the Pueblo Viejo mine, the Collections for the three main taxes (Net Smelter Return, Income Tax and Net Profit Sharing) skyrocket, as shown by what happened during the year 2025.
As a result, and lacking the collection of the royalty for the month of December, the collections obtained in 2025 considerably exceed the value obtained in 2024 (RD$13,276.4 million) and that was initially budgeted for 2025 (just RD$12,519.0 million), he stressed.
For 2026, revenues of RD$31,151.2 million were projected, which will fall very, very short compared to the collections that we can project very significantly above RD$40,000 million.
The expert suggests that the appropriate use of these enormous resources should be one of the central issues in defining a new structural reform agenda. Planting mining should be a first slogan for which I assume there will be a broad consensus throughout society, he stressed.
