NewsWhore
07-04-2011, 02:50 PM
Speaking over the weekend, Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa said that Dominicans should pray for the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is responsible for the soft terms of the PetroCaribe debt program that has provided temporary relief for the DR during the financial crisis and rising petrol prices. News reports over the weekend revealed that Chavez was suffering from cancer and was receiving treatment in Cuba. He is reported to have returned to Venezuela early today.
The facilities that Chavez has provided to governments in Central America and the Caribbean under the PetroCaribe agreement have led the Dominican government to accumulate a debt of US$2.02 billion with Venezuela. This year, the government will only pay back US$59 million of the debt, and in 2012, another US$74.1 million. If the price of petrol remains high, the country will receive credits for US$620 million, instead of the US$280 million budgeted for this year. The government had estimated fuel prices at US$70 a barrel, when the price has hovered around US$100 a barrel.
Under the arrangement, Cariforum nations, the Dominican Republic included, have received oil on preferential terms at a rate of between 120,000 and 140,000 barrels per day over the past three years. The largest share of this has been allocated to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, while Cuba, separately, has received around 100,000 barrels per day under a more complex arrangement.
The benefit of the PetroCaribe scheme is that member countries are allowed to retain a part of their payment in the form of a very low-interest loan repaid over a 25-year period. This has enabled regional governments to use the program for balance of payment purposes and budgetary support, while others have delayed due payments for long periods.
What is hardly mentioned though, is that on the less positive side, the program has increased the region's long-term indebtedness. For example, the Dominican Republic's PetroCaribe-related debt now totals over US$2 billion, up from US$448.8 million in 2006.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
The facilities that Chavez has provided to governments in Central America and the Caribbean under the PetroCaribe agreement have led the Dominican government to accumulate a debt of US$2.02 billion with Venezuela. This year, the government will only pay back US$59 million of the debt, and in 2012, another US$74.1 million. If the price of petrol remains high, the country will receive credits for US$620 million, instead of the US$280 million budgeted for this year. The government had estimated fuel prices at US$70 a barrel, when the price has hovered around US$100 a barrel.
Under the arrangement, Cariforum nations, the Dominican Republic included, have received oil on preferential terms at a rate of between 120,000 and 140,000 barrels per day over the past three years. The largest share of this has been allocated to the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, while Cuba, separately, has received around 100,000 barrels per day under a more complex arrangement.
The benefit of the PetroCaribe scheme is that member countries are allowed to retain a part of their payment in the form of a very low-interest loan repaid over a 25-year period. This has enabled regional governments to use the program for balance of payment purposes and budgetary support, while others have delayed due payments for long periods.
What is hardly mentioned though, is that on the less positive side, the program has increased the region's long-term indebtedness. For example, the Dominican Republic's PetroCaribe-related debt now totals over US$2 billion, up from US$448.8 million in 2006.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)