The Minister of Economy, Planning and Development (Mepyd), Pável Isa Contreras, stressed yesterday that the subsidy to fuelsenergy, food and fertilizers amounted to 35,000 million pesos until last June, and estimated that it could reach 50,000 million pesos at the end of the year.
“(To) the energy subsidy -because the rate adjustment that was being made did not cover the costs of energy production- 5,000 million are being allocated to energy; 25,000 million pesos for fuels -there are 30,000 million pesos-; and others subsidies such as, for example, food and fertilizers, with another 5,000 million pesos,” he said.
With the issue of food price hikes, the official acknowledged that in the country we all “are a little uneasy.” “It is understandable, there is a very complicated international situation, especially in two markets.”
One of these markets is that of hydrocarbons, “which has generated a very strong increase in the prices of these products, which are not only essential for transportation and make transportation more expensive from people, but also more expensive in transportation and the manufacture of the goods”. “It generates a cascading inflationary effect,” he emphasized.
The other market is that of cereals. He assured that there have been very significant increases in their prices in the past, both as a result of the war in Ukraine, which has caused a reaction of sanctions against Russia and great difficulty in placing cereals on world markets.
He pointed out that what the Government is doing is “responding and trying to protect people” and “it is doing it by freezing the prices of fuels and assuming the cost of that freezing”.
He said that the Government was investing in preventing hydrocarbon prices from rising and with them those of many products.
Tax Reform
The Minister of Economy reiterated that the reform or the Fiscal Pact are not on the agenda in what remains of the current government, but that the time will come when the different sectors will have to meet to discuss it.
“It is not on the agenda at the moment, but that does not mean that it is not important, that it will have to be done at some point. We will have to sit down as a society to discuss this, but that will not be done in the remainder of the government”, said the Minister of Economy.
Resilient economy project
The minister spoke to the press prior to the closing of the project “Resilient economy with gender justice in the Dominican Republic: interventions for advocacy”, where it was reported that the Government incorporates the territorial perspective in an articulated manner through the incorporation of public policies designed in the Mepyd and implemented in a participatory manner with the municipal governments and provincial development councils.
Isa Contreras highlighted that in this process more than 40 local governments (municipalities and municipal districts) have been technically strengthened and 31 development councils have been formed, milestones that have a positive impact on the population and contribute to guaranteeing quality of life.
In the activity, the official gave the conference “Territorialization of public policies and resilience in the Dominican Republic: advances and challenges”, where he highlighted that the process has entailed transcendental points: thinking about policies from the territories and from the people who live in them. ; empower the population that lives in the territories; strengthen the planning and management capacities of local governments.
In addition, planning territorially and with citizens; promote the strengthening of the decision-making capacities of the State at the local level; promote a rational and orderly use of space and its resources and incorporate the perspective of disaster risk management into territorial planning.
The Solidaridad and Friedrich Ebert Foundations (FES), the Institute of Social Research for Development and the Comprehensive Center for Local Development, with funding from the European Union, participated in the execution of the project.
