Biviana Riveiro Disla, executive director of the Dominican Republic’s Export and Investment Center (ProDominicana) reported that exports of goods exceeded growth expectations by reaching a record US$1,116.4 million in March. The increase was 37% over 2020 and 29% over pre-pandemic 2019.
The destination that acquired the largest volume of Dominican products was the US market. This reflected an increase of US$170.9 million, equivalent to a year-on-year growth of 44%, also highlighting exports to India with an increase of US$141.7 million, Haiti US$28.6 million, among 87 other markets that experienced positive growth during the month of March.
“The growth reflected in March is a sign of the diversification of our companies and producers. It is also a sign that we are regaining our advantageous position in global markets,” said the agency’s official.
The products that showed the greatest increase were cigars with an increase of 94%, equivalent to US$ 52 million; followed by exports of electrical equipment with an increase of US$ 26.7 million and sales of raw gold US$ 44.2 million.
The free trade zone sector recorded a 42.5 percent growth. Exports of products through the national regime had an increase of 32.4 percent.
Riveiro said that “the increase in exports is synonymous with the resilience of the Dominican export sector and the set of initiatives that the government of President Luis Abinader has deployed such as: the National Plan for the Promotion of Exports, the Plan for the Relaunching of the Tobacco Sector, as well as the productive chaining strategy, among others”.
