According to economist Ruddy Santana, who was the country's representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004-2008, a stand-by arrangement with the IMF would pose a threat to the first year of President Danilo Medina's government by undermining the chances of success of his social policies. He said that such an agreement should be avoided.

He said that it would be better to have a fiscal consolidation that did not endanger Medina's redistribution policies so that the country would not have to face difficulties obtaining consent agreements from the IMF in order to be able to be released from the problem of the loans from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

He said that the danger of signing a stand-by agreement would put the Dominican Republic at risk of not being to pay its foreign debt due to external factors such as a new recession in the United States, the implosion of the euro or an abnormal increase in the price of petroleum, which was what happened in the 2008 crisis.

The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development has said, via a press release, that they have still not decided whether a team from the economic cabinet will travel to Washington to meet with the IMF to negotiate an agreement as had been announced earlier. They said that the government would evaluate and analyze the national economic situation, before announcing a date for a visit to the Dominican Republic by an IMF team.

www.listindiario.com/economia-y-negocios/2012/9/3/245948/Recomiendan-al-Gobierno-no-firmar-pacto-con-FMI

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