Valdez Albizu reported that there is growing interest in the Dominican Republic on the part of international corporations and investors.
The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, held a meeting with the new board of the Asociación de Industrias de la República Dominicana (AIRD), headed by its president Julio Virgilio Brache, to whom the governor expressed his optimism about the prospects of the Dominican economy in 2023, noting that ‘the result of 4. 9% economic growth in 2022 in the context of a delicate international situation like the current one, just out of a global crisis caused by the COVID-19, and with adverse weather phenomena that affected agriculture, can be considered a success’.
The governor expressed to the AIRD his optimism with respect to the BCRD’s forecasts for the year 2023, in accordance with the forecasts of international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), that the growth of the Dominican economy would reach a figure of around 4.5%.
He also referred to the Central Bank’s forecasts regarding inflation, which ‘we think will converge this year within the target range of 4+/-1 %, as the monetary policy transmission mechanism continues to operate and the conjunctural factors that have affected the volatile component of prices, mainly the effects of climatic phenomena and the drop in the prices of containers and commodities, dissipate’.
He highlighted that the inter-annual consumer price index (CPI) stood at 7.83% at the end of 2022, 181 basis points lower from a peak of 9.64% in April of that year, with the underlying inflation figure being particularly relevant for price stability, which stood at 6.56% as of December, a figure that distinguishes the Dominican Republic in comparison with other countries in the region”.
Valdez Albizu reported that there is growing interest from international corporations and investors in the Dominican Republic, ‘attracted by our resilience, the certainty about the performance of the economy and the return possibilities for their investments’.
He also highlighted the stability of the exchange rate, considering that the accumulated appreciation as of December 30, 2022 was 2.0 %. In addition, international reserves reached the historical figure of US$14,440.6 million at the end of last year, equivalent to 5.6 months of imports and 12.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The Governor pointed out the importance of the fact that the monetary policy rate (TPM) has remained at 8.50% per annum for about three months, indicating a pause, at a time when almost all Latin American central banks have increased their rates, placing them significantly above pre-pandemic levels, as is the case of Argentina (75%), Brazil (13.75%), Colombia (12.75%) Uruguay (11.50%), Chile (11.25%), Mexico (10.50%), or Costa Rica (9%).
Valdez Albizu expressed that ‘we must bet on the future, since the decisions taken by the Government of the nation will lead us towards stability with sustained growth, improvement of employment and of the conditions for investment’.
For his part, Mr. Brache praised the measures taken by the Central Bank since the outbreak of the pandemic up to the present, ‘thanks to which an enviable economic stability has been achieved in the region’.
The Governor was accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Clarissa de la Rocha de Torres; the Deputy Manager of Monetary, Exchange and Financial Policies, Joel Tejeda Comprés; the Deputy Manager of National Accounts and Economic Statistics, Ramón González Hernández; the Governor’s Economic Advisor, Julio Andújar Scheker; the Director of the Department of Monetary Programming and Economic Studies, Joel González; and the Director of the Department of Financial Regulation and Stability, Carlos Delgado.
The AIRD commission was completed by Mr. Mario Pujols, executive vice-president; Juan Jose Attias, Anyarlene Bergés, Roberto Herrera, Fernando Espinal, José Luis Venta and Roberto Despradel.
Source: Noticiassin.com
Learn More: ECONOMY
