NewsWhore
02-17-2010, 06:00 PM
A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has concluded its review of the Dominican economy and compliance with the Stand-by arrangement signed last November.
The mission observed: "Performance under the current SBA has been largely positive. While the economy remains weak, there is evidence of a rebound in activity in the last several months of 2009 and it is estimated that real GDP grew 3.5% for the whole year. There is no evidence of price pressures in the economy. Inflation closed at 5.8% by the end of 2009 (below the lower end of the Central Bank's target), and core inflation (excluding food and fuels) closed at 3%. The exchange rate has remained stable. The international community's efforts to reconstruct Haiti - which is expected to have the active participation of the Dominican Republic - may increase net exports going forward. The economy has enough unused capacity to deal with this potential increase in demand."
The IMF says that the fiscal deficit of the consolidated public sector reached almost 4.5% of GDP in 2009, in line with the authorities' economic program, while the fiscal deficit of the Central Administration amounted to 3.5% of GDP, which is 0.4% of GDP higher than programmed due mostly to higher electricity subsidies and revenue shortfalls. The deviation of the Central Administration's deficit was offset by improvements in the financial position of the rest of the public sector.
It concludes that monetary conditions have improved significantly and new lending to the private sector rebounded at the end of 2009 and expanded by 8.5% for the year as a whole.
Nevertheless, the IMF experts said that at the end of December 2009, the government had failed to comply with the limit on the fiscal deficit of the central administration and eliminating the arrears to the electricity generators. Yesterday several generators went off line at noon, including AES Andres, Haina 1 and 2, San Felipe, SESPM and Los Mina 5.
For the full IMF note, which is generally favorable, see: www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr1041.htm (http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr1041.htm)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
The mission observed: "Performance under the current SBA has been largely positive. While the economy remains weak, there is evidence of a rebound in activity in the last several months of 2009 and it is estimated that real GDP grew 3.5% for the whole year. There is no evidence of price pressures in the economy. Inflation closed at 5.8% by the end of 2009 (below the lower end of the Central Bank's target), and core inflation (excluding food and fuels) closed at 3%. The exchange rate has remained stable. The international community's efforts to reconstruct Haiti - which is expected to have the active participation of the Dominican Republic - may increase net exports going forward. The economy has enough unused capacity to deal with this potential increase in demand."
The IMF says that the fiscal deficit of the consolidated public sector reached almost 4.5% of GDP in 2009, in line with the authorities' economic program, while the fiscal deficit of the Central Administration amounted to 3.5% of GDP, which is 0.4% of GDP higher than programmed due mostly to higher electricity subsidies and revenue shortfalls. The deviation of the Central Administration's deficit was offset by improvements in the financial position of the rest of the public sector.
It concludes that monetary conditions have improved significantly and new lending to the private sector rebounded at the end of 2009 and expanded by 8.5% for the year as a whole.
Nevertheless, the IMF experts said that at the end of December 2009, the government had failed to comply with the limit on the fiscal deficit of the central administration and eliminating the arrears to the electricity generators. Yesterday several generators went off line at noon, including AES Andres, Haina 1 and 2, San Felipe, SESPM and Los Mina 5.
For the full IMF note, which is generally favorable, see: www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr1041.htm (http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2010/pr1041.htm)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)