IDB praises Dominican Republic 's economic recovery

Dominicantoday.com, Santo Domingo , October 9 th 2007

La Romana . - Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) president Luis Alberto Moreno has described the Dominican Republic 's economic recovery as “formidable” but called on the country to focus this on social issues in order to achieve sustainable growth.

Moreno added that the Dominican Republic ought to prioritize culture and create quality jobs in order to be successful in global competitiveness, while highlighting the country's technological progress.

(…) The IDB president also said that the country should make the most of its membership of the DR-CAFTA agreement and welcomed the recovery plan the Dominican authorities are implementing with the Central Bank, which is affected by a quasi-fiscal crisis.

“The best word to describe the difference between the Dominican economic situation in 2004 and the present is ‘formidable'”, said Moreno .

The IDB president's statements were made during a press conference held alongside Dominican president Leonel Fernandez, with whom he had been analyzing the local economic situation at the Casa de Campo tourist complex in La Romana province.

Fernández described the meeting as “magnificent” and ensured that the country has the hard currency needed to keep the exchange rate stable in the face of pressure from the constant fuel price rises on the international market.

“Although we have surpassed expectations for growth over the last three years, it is also true that we are facing new external challenges, and this is why we have been studying the Dominican economic situation”, said the president.

Fernandez said that the nine-hour meeting had covered all aspects of the national economy, including the power problem “where we still have a lot of work ahead to overcome the crisis in the sector”.

The Dominican president added that the country also faces “huge opportunities” in production of biofuels such as ethanol, and defended the controversial Santo Domingo metro project.