NewsWhore
03-07-2012, 12:50 PM
Over the last 11 years, the Dominican Republic's external and internal debt has increased at almost the same rate as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), both increasing more than four times.
Economists Bernardo Fuente and Miguel Ceara Hatton think that the debt level is too high, although the former Hacienda (Finance) Minister Vincente Bengoa rejects the claim and the current Hacienda minister Daniel Toribio refused an interview with El Dia, stating that he only gives television interviews.
According to statistics from the General Office of Public Credit at the Ministry of Hacienda, loans to the country have risen from just over US$4.1 billion in 2000 to over US$16.5 billion in 2011, excluding the Central Bank deficit.
In the same period, according to the Central Bank, the GDP increased from US$338,301 million to US$2,156,148 million, up 555%.
The analysts say that the government's public debt has grown constantly, with the greater increases in the 2008 presidential electoral year, when it went from US$7.5 billion in 2007 to US$11.2 billion in 2008.
Of the US$16.59 billion the state owes, US$11.62 billion is owed overseas with the governments of the US, Spain, Japan, Venezuela (US$2.4 billion) and Brazil accounting for 51%. Multilateral organizations like the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund account for a further 35%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
Economists Bernardo Fuente and Miguel Ceara Hatton think that the debt level is too high, although the former Hacienda (Finance) Minister Vincente Bengoa rejects the claim and the current Hacienda minister Daniel Toribio refused an interview with El Dia, stating that he only gives television interviews.
According to statistics from the General Office of Public Credit at the Ministry of Hacienda, loans to the country have risen from just over US$4.1 billion in 2000 to over US$16.5 billion in 2011, excluding the Central Bank deficit.
In the same period, according to the Central Bank, the GDP increased from US$338,301 million to US$2,156,148 million, up 555%.
The analysts say that the government's public debt has grown constantly, with the greater increases in the 2008 presidential electoral year, when it went from US$7.5 billion in 2007 to US$11.2 billion in 2008.
Of the US$16.59 billion the state owes, US$11.62 billion is owed overseas with the governments of the US, Spain, Japan, Venezuela (US$2.4 billion) and Brazil accounting for 51%. Multilateral organizations like the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund account for a further 35%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)