A total of 95,000 businesses that are classified as micro-, small or medium sized have received financing from the National Council for the Promotion and Support of Micro, Small and Medium Businesses (Promipyme: Pro Me Pi Me). According to the council's president the entity is averaging RD$1.2 billion in loans each month and the collection rate is currently 100% on outstanding loans. As well as lending money, the council also teaches people how to use it wisely, providing courses on business practices such as accounting and marketing with the support of the Taiwanese diplomatic mission in Santo Domingo.
The Central Bank reports that January's Consumer Price Index was 1.09% compared to December 2007. This came about as a result of food prices going up as a result of shortages due to Tropical Storms Olga and Noel, combined with commodity price increases and increases in the cost of transport due to international fuel price rises. Inflation in 2007 was 8.88%, according to the Central Bank.
Of the fifteen legislative proposals declared to be of high national interest for 2007, only four have been passed by both sections of the Congress. As a result, this year's first session will start with a backlog of legislation contained in the Priority Legislative Agenda from 2007. The four bills that were passed covered tax collections, industrial innovations and competitiveness, real estate registries and incentives on renewable resources. Measures affecting the environment, small business incentives, civil legal codes, pensions and minimum salaries are still pending. The ruling PLD party has absolute majority in Congress.
The government has created yet another committee, this one named the National Livestock Committee (CNP), to deal with the issues connected with the presence of Asian bird flu in the Dominican Republic. According to Enriquillo Rivas, a poultry sector consultant, chicken producers have put up RD$15 million and the Ministry of Agriculture has contributed an equal amount to fund the office. The Presidential decree appointed the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Public Health, the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Armed Forces to the Committee. Also placed on the committee by the President are the Chief of Police, the Director of Livestock, the Administrator of the Agriculture Bank, the Director of the Agrarian Reform and a representative of the livestock sector. According to the article in Hoy newspaper, the H5N2 virus is present in El Salvador, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico and Costa Rica, and cannot be passed on to humans. FAO inspectors from the United Nations visited the Dominican Republic and Haiti recently, and their report is expected within the next few days.
A new US$100 million company, Wind Telecom will launch its services tomorrow. According to company president Manuel Bonilla, its services will include Wimax, Internet, television and data. The company will offer Wi-Fi broadband access to its clients, as well as 132 television channels, with two channels reserved for educational use. Universities and other institutions will have free access to these channels. According to the company's spokesperson, Yndira Rodriguez, Wimax is the cheapest and most secure telecoms technology currently available in the Dominican Republic.
One of the Dominican Republic's most successful exports, bananas, has seen a 37% reduction due to the effects of two strong tropical storms, Noel and Olga, late last year. Unfortunately, these natural disasters hit at a time when new competition was appearing on the scene, and both organic and conventional banana exports are now facing a new struggle to regain their market shares. Up until 31 December 2007, the European Union had a quota system for banana imports from the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) countries. But in January, the market became wide open, free of tariffs and duties to all banana-producing nations. The Dominican Republic used to export 200,000 40-pound boxes of bananas each week, but this has fallen to 125,000 due to the damage to local banana fields after the flooding. With 1,200 local producers and 15,000 jobs at stake, the banana sector is currently working to maintain its hegemony as the leading producer and exporter of organic bananas to Europe. However, farmers in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru are also trying to get their piece of the European banana pie.
Newly arrived US Ambassador P. Robert Fannin will be the keynote speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon scheduled for Wednesday, 20 February at the Salon Anacaona at the Hotel Jaragua. Admission to the event, which starts at noon, is RD$2,000 for members and RD$2,500 for non-members.
Former President Hipolito Mejia is reported to have given the new US ambassador, Robert Fannin, files on the use of state funds for the current presidential election campaign as well as files on the case of the US$130 million Sun Land loan, according to PRD president Ramon Alburquerque. The PRD has taken its complaint on the Sun Land case all the way to the Supreme Court. A recent report in Diario Libre pointed out yet more contradictions in the case. While the government supposedly rescinded the contract and was supposed to pay just six of the 19 notes, it turns out that Bear Stearns has confirmed the payment of 15 of the 19 notes. This news just adds to the confusion surrounding the case, where the President told newspaper editors that the notes were not part of the "public debt", and just a few days later it was revealed that the notes were, indeed, part of the public debt.
The Gasoline Distributors Association (Anadegas) is very unhappy about the way in which subsidized diesel fuel is being shared. As a result, the association is reiterating its threat to shut down most of the nation's gasoline stations if the government does not provide a positive response to all the complaints that have been registered over the years.
Among these complaints are the RD$32.00 tax on each gallon of diesel fuel, the disorganized process surrounding the sale of the subsidized diesel fuel, issues involving the evaporation of fuels and the costs associated with the use of credit cards. To back their accusation about the improper sale of subsidized diesel fuel, the association produced photographs of an SUV receiving this fuel at a Conatra fueling station in Oviedo. Despite the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's efforts to smooth out the situation, Anadegas has told Diario Libre reporters that it will continue to carry out its plan of action.
Over the weekend, Fenatrano transport union leader Juan Hubieres threatened a halt to all public transport in the southern and western regions of the Dominican Republic as a way of calling attention to what he called the unequal distribution of subsidized diesel fuel. After meeting with Melanio Paredes, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Hubieres has called off the today's action. Minister Paredes will have a full agenda today as he meets with representatives of the major petroleum distributors this morning, and a few hours later he will meet with the leaders of the National Association of Gasoline Retailers (Anadegas). Paredes has said that if necessary he would use police and military units to guarantee public access to fuels.
In a round table discussion at the Listin Diario offices, several legal and police officials presented a number of possible modifications to the Code of Penal Procedures instituted in September 2004. The Chief of Police, Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin suggested that the police should be given 48 hours to present their case instead of the current 24-hour limit. He also suggested that life sentences could be included in the sentencing options available to the courts, especially for repeat or violent offenders. Presidential legal advisor Cesar Pina Toribio said that a total of 48 different modifications have been suggested to Congress for the legislation now being discussed.
The frontier between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is experiencing mounting tension as armed cattle farmers crossed into Haiti and took 16 cows and two horses that they are holding to exchange for the nearly two dozen cattle that were stolen and taken into Haiti just a few days before. The cattlemen were led by the head of the Dajabon Cattle Ranchers Association, Pedro Jose Suero. The spokesperson had few words of praise for the personnel manning the guard posts along the border, especially in view of the fact that the latest escapade took place just a few dozen meters from one such post in the area of Canongo and Sanche. As a result of the vigilante action, a group of armed Haitians kidnapped a backhoe operator and a dump truck driver. The two men were taken from their vehicles in the Masacre River in the Los Cocos de Sanchez area near Dajabon. Fortunately, the two men, Jose Sanchez and Carlos Taveras were saved by members of the Haitian police based in the border town of Quanaminthe (Juana Mendez). They were rescued while being beaten by their captors, and were taken to Fort Liberte where they were interviewed and later taken to Dajabon, where the Haitian consul handed them over to Dominican authorities. Even the hand-over was fraught with tension as one of the cattlemen tried to attack the Haitian diplomat.
The leader of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic, Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez, has told the nation's police force that the criminals they confront should not be treated with "pious thoughts". Despite being an opponent of the use of force, the Cardinal said that people who commit crimes do not have more rights than their victims, and therefore, police officers, who are responsible for protecting the public are obliged to go after these criminals in their own territory. In reaction, the national press said that the Cardinal understood that the recent surge in police shootings was the result of an increase in the number of criminals who are trying to impose their control on the public. Cardinal Lopez Rodriguez said that any society was obliged to put a halt to attempts by criminals to take over through the use of violence.
La Cadena supermarket is advertising frozen chickens for RD$59.95.
Malaquias is advertising discounts of 40-50% on women and men's clothing at their Roberto Pastoriza 168, Naco and Av. Independencia 2507 locations.
Studio HB at Roberto Pastoriza 352 has a sale with 50% off through Friday, 29 February.
Ferreteria Popular, on Av. San Martin, has a sale on lighting fixtures.
La Sirena has Duralon plastic chairs on sale for RD$150, tables for RD$995, plus 30% on a selection of other plastic items (valid only for Siremas cardholders). Casa Cuesta is advertising discounts of 70, 60 and 50% on a selection of seasonal items from 18-29 February.
The Juan Sebastian de Elcano, a tall ship from the Spanish Armada, is now in port. The Elcano, a four-mast topsail schooner entered the Port of Santo Domingo to a 21-gun salute. The ship will remain in port until Wednesday when it leaves for Costa Rica. The ship is named after the last surviving officer of the Magellan expedition, the first to sail round the world in 1522. It was built in 1927, and has been used as a Spanish Armada training ship since 1928.
There are lots of ways to enjoy this time of the year, and one of the most memorable is to watch one of the carnival processions. Next Sunday, 24 February, is one of the high points of the Carnival Vegana, the carnival in the city of La Vega. It is also the big day for the Santiago carnival, a procession over a mile long up the Las Carreras Avenue to the big Monument. Desde el Medio Tours is offering packages to the La Vega Carnival, as does Mr. Tours. Similar tours are available for Santiago. Merengue is the typical music of the carnival season.
You can get a taste of carnival time at Dominicana Online: www.dominicanaonline.org/portal/espanol/carnaval2008.
For collectors, the Banco Popular has published an important work, Carnaval Popular Dominicano, written by leading folklorist Dagoberto Tejeda. In Santo Domingo the big party will be celebrated along George Washington Avenue (the Malecon) on 2 March.
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