GDP growth sees few jobs

[NewsWhore]

While the Dominican economy has grown by 8% during the current year, according to Temistocles Montas, the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, there has been little growth in the manufacturing or business sector. The conclusion was presented by Lisandro Macarrulla, the head of Private Business Council CONEP, and economists Jose Luis de Ramon and Apolinar Veloz. They presented the argument during a roundtable discussion on the performance of the Dominican economy in 2007 and the outlook for 2008, sponsored by Hoy newspaper. Economist de Ramon said that over a quarter of the 8% growth in the GDP could be attributed to cell phones sales, part of the communications sector. Productive sectors that use credit instruments have not changed significantly. At the same time, Veloz said that statistics show that the areas of greatest increase are the banks (27%) and communications (17%), but these are not sectors that generate a lot of jobs. Farming and manufacturing only grew by 2%, and these are the two sectors that create more jobs than those with highest growth rates. Veloz questioned the fact that the sectors producing goods and services are experiencing less growth than the sectors providing services to the productive sector.

More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)