NewsWhore
08-10-2006, 03:20 PM
Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu shared statistics on the half year of the economy with the press yesterday. The Consumer Price Index for January-June was 3.49%.
He said that the new methodology that uses 1991 as a base year shows that the economy grew by 11.7% from January to June 2006. According to Valdez, this reflects the consolidation of the economic recovery process since last year. During the April-June quarter, the economy grew by 11.3%. He said a 9.3% GDP growth rate is expected at the end of the year, much higher than the 5.5% estimated by the International Monetary Fund. He predicted that this would place the Dominican economy as the one with the highest growth in the world, as reported in the Listin Diario.
Construction continued to be the leading sector, growing by 32.6%, a result primarily of government investment (66%) and foreign investment (US$418.9 million), or 5.1%. The communications sector showed a 28% growth rate, farming was up by 19.6%, mining was up by 10.3%, local manufacturing by 78.6%, trade by 10.3%, and finance and insurance by 8.9%. Tourism registered a 6.8% increase. The export manufacturing zone sector slumped by 8.1%.
Unemployment was down from 19.4% in October 2004 to 16.4% in April 2006. The balance of payments showed a positive RD$1.3 billion, taxes provided 16.2% more in revenues, while government spending was up by 28.3%, primarily due to propane gas and electricity subsidies. Valdez estimated the impact of petroleum imports on local prices
The Central Bank's net international reserves ended the first half of the year at US$1.58 billion, while the international gross reserves reached US$2.13 billion, exceeding the IMF's objectives.
In July, the Consumer Price Index showed a 0.9% increase, bringing inflation for the first half of the year to 4.41%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
He said that the new methodology that uses 1991 as a base year shows that the economy grew by 11.7% from January to June 2006. According to Valdez, this reflects the consolidation of the economic recovery process since last year. During the April-June quarter, the economy grew by 11.3%. He said a 9.3% GDP growth rate is expected at the end of the year, much higher than the 5.5% estimated by the International Monetary Fund. He predicted that this would place the Dominican economy as the one with the highest growth in the world, as reported in the Listin Diario.
Construction continued to be the leading sector, growing by 32.6%, a result primarily of government investment (66%) and foreign investment (US$418.9 million), or 5.1%. The communications sector showed a 28% growth rate, farming was up by 19.6%, mining was up by 10.3%, local manufacturing by 78.6%, trade by 10.3%, and finance and insurance by 8.9%. Tourism registered a 6.8% increase. The export manufacturing zone sector slumped by 8.1%.
Unemployment was down from 19.4% in October 2004 to 16.4% in April 2006. The balance of payments showed a positive RD$1.3 billion, taxes provided 16.2% more in revenues, while government spending was up by 28.3%, primarily due to propane gas and electricity subsidies. Valdez estimated the impact of petroleum imports on local prices
The Central Bank's net international reserves ended the first half of the year at US$1.58 billion, while the international gross reserves reached US$2.13 billion, exceeding the IMF's objectives.
In July, the Consumer Price Index showed a 0.9% increase, bringing inflation for the first half of the year to 4.41%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)