NewsWhore
08-06-2012, 02:30 PM
Writing in today's Hoy newspaper, journalist Juan Bolivar Diaz chronicles the achievements and failures of President Leonel Fernandez as he leaves office for the second time after two consecutive terms.
Diaz describes the 2004-2012 period as one of stability and economic growth, with a major legacy of public works, while pointing out that they were financed with enormous public debt. He comments that President Fernandez leaves fiscal and trade deficits that put into question the sustainability of the current development model.
The public works program, however, was funded by tripling the public debt from US$7.9 billion to RD$24 billion, and the public deficit exceeded the RD$300 billion mark this year.
He also points to the serious deficiencies in education, energy and competitiveness, together with political patronage, corruption, lack of transparency and institutional precariousness that reveal a disappointing balance of an administration by a leader who unfolded the banner of the information age and knowledge society.
He says that the major achievements have been macroeconomic stability and the average annual growth rate of 8% throughout his eight years in government.
He says that several institutional reforms were passed during the Fernandez administration, but laws are barely enforced. This includes a new Constitution that he describes as having contradictory traits of modernity and backwardness, but which has enabled Fernandez, with the complicity of the opposition, to accumulate enormous political power that he will keep even when out of government, thanks to his capacity to attract allies by handing out posts in government.
Diaz also comments that after eight years in government, Fernandez leaves the country positioned as the global leader in wasteful spending and corruption.
www.hoy.com.do/tema-de-hoy/2012/8/4/440168/Los-logros-y-fracasos-de-Leonel-Fernandez (http://www.hoy.com.do/tema-de-hoy/2012/8/4/440168/Los-logros-y-fracasos-de-Leonel-Fernandez)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
Diaz describes the 2004-2012 period as one of stability and economic growth, with a major legacy of public works, while pointing out that they were financed with enormous public debt. He comments that President Fernandez leaves fiscal and trade deficits that put into question the sustainability of the current development model.
The public works program, however, was funded by tripling the public debt from US$7.9 billion to RD$24 billion, and the public deficit exceeded the RD$300 billion mark this year.
He also points to the serious deficiencies in education, energy and competitiveness, together with political patronage, corruption, lack of transparency and institutional precariousness that reveal a disappointing balance of an administration by a leader who unfolded the banner of the information age and knowledge society.
He says that the major achievements have been macroeconomic stability and the average annual growth rate of 8% throughout his eight years in government.
He says that several institutional reforms were passed during the Fernandez administration, but laws are barely enforced. This includes a new Constitution that he describes as having contradictory traits of modernity and backwardness, but which has enabled Fernandez, with the complicity of the opposition, to accumulate enormous political power that he will keep even when out of government, thanks to his capacity to attract allies by handing out posts in government.
Diaz also comments that after eight years in government, Fernandez leaves the country positioned as the global leader in wasteful spending and corruption.
www.hoy.com.do/tema-de-hoy/2012/8/4/440168/Los-logros-y-fracasos-de-Leonel-Fernandez (http://www.hoy.com.do/tema-de-hoy/2012/8/4/440168/Los-logros-y-fracasos-de-Leonel-Fernandez)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)