The mining and quarrying sector in the Dominican Republic did not feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that the country began to suffer in March 2020, since in that year the companies in the area had profits of RD$52,243.8 million.
The presence of the virus, which forced a large part of the economic activities in the country to be paralyzed between mid-March and early July 2020, did not prevent the profit of mining and quarrying companies from growing that year by RD$8,720.2 million with in relation to the RD$43,523.6 million they had in 2019.
The data is contained in the preliminary results of the Poll National Statistics Office (ENAE) 2021, corresponding to fiscal years 2019 and 2020 for the mining and quarrying sector, prepared by the National Statistics Office (ONE).
In the year that COVID-19 most strongly affected the Dominican economy, mining companies They achieved revenues of RD$112,942.3 million, which, subtracting their costs and expenses, the payment of remunerations and the depreciation of machinery and work equipment, results in a growth in their profits of 20%.
From an average profit of RD$1,243.5 million in 2019, companies in the sector achieved average profits of RD$1,536.5 million the following year, according to ENAE 2021.
According to the study, mining companies and quarry exploitation, although they registered more income in 2020, they had a higher amount of costs and expenses than in 2019, going from RD$51,078 million to RD$53,110.5 million, a figure higher by RD$2,032.5 million during the aforementioned period.
However, an opposite situation occurred with the expenses for wages and employer contributions. From having RD$7,299.1 million available for payments for this concept in 2019, the companies in the sector allocated RD$6,622.9 million in 2020, a reduction of RD$676.2 million.
The drop in spending on wages and employer contributions is due to the fact that during 2020 the number of people who worked for the sector fell by 3.4%.
“For the year 2019, the total number of employees dependent on the sector was estimated at 6,123 people, while for the year 2020 it is estimated that the employed population was 5,915 people. The variation in employment between these two years is estimated at -3.4%”, highlights the research.
Likewise, the poll establishes that for the mining and quarrying sector, in 2019, the estimated average salary was RD$31,670.6, while in 2020 it was RD$29,819.2. In percentage terms, the average salary experienced a 5.8% drop, highlighting the fact that both wages and salaries, as well as the number of dependent employees, fell in 2020.
As for expenses for depreciation of machinery and work equipment, the companies reported RD$965 million for these purposes in 2020, a figure RD$259.1 million higher than that allocated a year earlier.
