Hotels, bars and restaurants segment grows more than 38%

The governor of the Central Bank, Héctor Valdez Albizu, predicted that in 2022 there will be a lot of foreign direct investment in the Dominican Republic “due to the social climate of peace” that exists in the country.

He compared the nation with others in the region, such as Brazil, Venezuela, El Salvador, Bolivia, Argentina and Peru, which have socio-political situations, before assuring that “investors do not go where there are problems”.

“I am sure, personally, that a lot of foreign direct investment will come here. Here it is going to be necessary to take turns, because it is a country that has a climate of social peace, although there are those who rob, those who steal, as in all countries”, he assured.

Between January-June 2021, foreign direct investment flows amounted to US$1,740.9 million, with the largest amounts in the tourism, real estate, mining and energy sectors, according to statistics compiled by the Central Bank.

The United States is the leading country in foreign direct investment.
“We are building an economy that had been devastated by a terrible pandemic,” the governor emphasized with satisfaction during a virtual press conference in which he estimated that the growth of the Dominican economy in 2021 will be around or above 12%, a projection above the 11% he had announced a month ago, and which exceeds the 8% predicted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Accompanied by other bank officials, he announced that the monthly indicator of economic activity (IMAE) last November registered a year-on-year variation of 13.1 %, “higher than expected”, bringing January-November 2021 growth to 12.5 %.

“This remarkable November result of 13.1 virtually assures us of growth for the full year of around or above 12 percent. With this result, the conditions are in place for the Dominican economy to close with an expansion that could exceed 12 percent, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America,” said Valdez Albizu.

He added that the current account deficit for 2021 is expected to stand at around 1.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), supported by the continued flow of remittances that would exceed US$10 billion this year.

“It is important to highlight that this deficit will be covered 1.7 times by foreign direct investment flows, which would be around US$3 billion by the end of 2021,” he added.

The sectors that registered the most significant inter-annual variations with respect to 2020 were: hotels, bars and restaurants (38.3 %); construction (25.1 %); free zone manufacturing (21.2 %); transportation and storage (13.0 %); commerce (11.8 %); local manufacturing (11.0 %); other service activities (5.8 %); and energy and water (5.3 %).

He also highlighted the performance of tourism, projecting that the arrival of non-resident visitors would be around 5 million by the end of 2021.

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