The National Competitiveness Council (CNC) launched a virtual facility yesterday, enabling companies to cut through the governmental red tape needed to form a company in 78 hours, down from the present 22 days. The online service is available through creatuempresa.gob.do
The new service reduces the time and effort needed to set up a company by combining databases of the private and governmental entities dealing with company formation in the DR. NCC director Andres Van der Horst Alvarez said that the initiative creates a new synergy between public institutions and private entities.
The new system, TeknowLogic, is certified by Microsoft and will place the DR among world leaders in the IT sector considering that the system is compatible with other computer systems.
The CNC worked closely with the Industrial Property Office (ONAPI), the Tax Department (DGII) and the Santo Domingo Chamber of Commerce (CCPSD) and the Presidential Information Technology Office (OPTIC) to create the virtual company maker. Also backing the project are the Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD) and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (SEIC).
Anyone who registers on the website can check the availability of a possible company name and register it (ONAPI), register the company with the Chamber of Commerce (CCPSD) and pay taxes (DGII). A manual, in Spanish, provides a detailed run-down of the services offered.
Upon making the announcement, CNC executive director Andres van der Horst said that the new facility is surely to improve the position of the country in the Doing Business of the World Bank ranking in terms of starting a business.
He announced that the CNC is lobbying for Congress to pass a simplified law that would allow companies to be formed without the present requirement of seven shareholders. These measures are part of the implementation of the CNC's competitiveness strategic plan.
Economy Minister Temistocles Montas announced that the Ministry had opened a letter of credit in a local commercial bank to pay promissory notes that are due this year, as reported in Listin Diario. With this statement, the Dominican government is acknowledging that the promissory notes are in fact part of the country's public debt. The government had previously said that these were private debt. The promissory notes were issued irregularly, without approval from Congress or registration with the office of public credit. Felix Bautista, of the Presidency's Supervisory Public Works Engineering Office, signed the notes. The notes are part of a series totaling US$130 million issued over the course of 2006 to SunLand Corp. These were subsequently transacted on international capital markets to other investors.
The Department of Taxes says that it collected RD$141.4 billion in 2007, which was RD$30.1 million more than collections in 2006, for a 27.1% increase. He said taxes totaled RD$12.2 billion more than the target for the period. He said the results are due to more effective tax systems in place. Companies and individuals paid RD$49.8 billion in 2007, up from RD$39.6 billion in 2006, and RD$41.3 billion target for the year. ITBIS sales tax was up to RD$35.7 billion, compared to RD$29.5 billion in 2006 and RD$31.9 billion target for the year. The selective tax on alcoholic beverages raised RD$12.4 billion, compared to RD$9.70 billion in 2006, and the targeted RD$12.7 billion for 2007.
The Central Electoral Board has sent the voting register for the 2008 elections to all the political parties. In all, 5,764,986 people are registered to vote. Listin Diario explains that 6,781 people were removed from the register because they became military personnel. This is up from 5,369,064 Dominicans able to vote as of the 2006 records (up 395,922 voters). The political parties have five days to make suggestions on the register. There are 153,499 registered voters outside the DR and there will be a total of 295 electoral stations.
The number of Dominican expatriates traveling home declined by 8.1% in January 2008, compared to travel during the same period the previous year. The decline in return visits could be as a result of the housing and fiscal troubles in the US. During the first month of the year, 38,074 non-resident Dominicans visited the country, compared to 41,389 who visited in January 2007. In January 2006 39,995 non-resident Dominicans visited the DR while 39,914 visited in January 2005. The number of Dominicans traveling abroad also decreased, by 0.75%, after only 39,415 Dominicans traveled in 2007 compared to 39,713 in January 2006.
If you are looking for a hotel room in the DR, good luck! According to Hoy, hotels are experiencing record occupancy rates. Thelma Martinez from the National Hotel and Restaurant Association (ASONAHORES) says that hotel owners are having to perform juggling acts to meet the demand. Martinez added that in the last few years the DR has tried to change its tourism model and has moved towards high end/high yield tourism for tourists with very high purchasing power. According to initial estimates, the DR will experience a 3% to 4% growth rate in the tourism sector for 2008.
The Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) held a workshop last week in Bridgetown, Barbados with regional media personnel to discuss in detail the recently agreed upon Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union. The CRNM, the Barbadian based negotiating arm of CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus the DR), was represented by Director General Richard Bernal, Senior Director Henry Gill, Services Trade Unit Head Ramesh Chaitoo, Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Senior Coordinator Malcolm Spence and Deputy Senior Director Carl Greenidge.
The need for the educational workshop became apparent in recent weeks as regional media, members of government, intellectuals and scholars began to voice concerns about the EPA and its implications for the region. One of the loudest voices opposing the EPA was Guyanese president Bharat Jagdeo who argued that the region had nothing to gain from the agreement. Critics claim that a move from one-way preferential treatment, which has been the norm with Caribbean trade policy for more than 100 years, towards reciprocity would cause damaging effects on the small economies of CARICOM nations.
Bernal contradicted these concerns by explaining that in the face of an increasingly global economy this was the best option for the region. Bernal added that if it were possible to get preferential one-way treatment, the CRNM would have tried to get it, but with pressure from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and movement by countries towards trade liberalization this was impossible, adding "this is fantasy not a reality, this is fiction not fact."
Bernal added that contrary to critical opinion, the region was not bullied into the agreement. "The need to move towards reciprocity had been known since the Lome and Cotonou agreements. We might not like globalization, but it is a reality. Not everybody makes it in globalization, there is no guarantee everybody will benefit, but the global economy equals global competition. We are competing in today's world. This is a trade agreement, not an aid agreement. This is a hand up, not a hand out and if you can't compete in 25 years you can't compete in 50 or 100 years."
As for the DR's role in the EPA negotiations the country was applauded for its efficiencies during the process. In fact, CRNM officials agreed that the DR, because of its CAFTA negotiations with the US, had all ready been ahead of the curve and that it was CARICOM that had to make concessions for the DR. The DR, according to Gill, could have held out longer for certain concessions under the agreement, but sacrificed and accommodated to CARICOM. Lu Olivero of dr1.com represented the Dominican Republic at the workshop. For continuing coverage of the EPA please go to the DR1 trade page: www.dr1.com/trade
Los Guaricanos, an impoverished area of Santo Domingo, could lose an RD$400 million donation to build a new hospital because the government has failed to provide land for the hospital. The donation was made by Yale University Hospital to the Santo Domingo North Municipality, according to Evelio Fabio Mota and Cesar Valdez, country directors for Mision Positiva Internacional. Mota and Valdez showed Hoy documents that were sent to President Leonel Fernandez, the State Sugar Company (CEA), BanReservas and legislators, explaining the details of the program. The directors explained that the political muscle behind the projects was given by US Congressman Joseph Lieberman, who sent a letter to Fernandez about the project last January.
Yesterday Industry and Commerce Minister Melanio Paredes guaranteed the sale of fuel and has received the support of fuel distributors Shell, Texaco and Esso. Paredes' comments came after Anadegas, the independent gas station owners association, threatened to shut down most of the country's gasoline stations if the government did not provide a positive response to all the complaints that have been registered over the years. Paredes described Anadegas' threat as treacherous, because it would greatly affect the rhythm of Dominican life. Although Paredes rejected Anadegas' threats he did concede that some were reasonable, adding that there should be a dialogue in order to reach an agreement. Hoy writes that fuel services have been shut off in the south, north and eastern parts of the country, but that there have been no problems in Santo Domingo due to the wealth of options. Paredes said that Anadegas was not the beast it was before and that there were other fuel options. Miguel A. Estapan, Esso general manager said that the increased use of liquid petroleum gas (LPG, or propane) in vehicles has definitely affected Anadegas, and that as a result they have lost the sale of 105 million gallons of fuel in the last five years. Estapan added that the situation needed to be resolved, and that Texaco, Esso and Shell don't agree with Anadegas' actions and have agreed to stay open. He said that gas stations would only be closed if citizens were in danger. In their defense, Listin Diario writes that Paredes didn't meet an Anadegas delegation that went to visit him yesterday, and this is why nothing has been settled. Anadegas president Sandra Watley denied that stations are on strike, while stating that owners had the right to defend their businesses.
The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) is again threatening to go on strike. This time the strike will be for 24 hours at 150 public medical centers around the country. The CMD explained that only emergency patients and patients in critical condition will be treated during the strike. Listin Diario writes that the strike will be used to put pressure on the government to grant concessions, which include a salary increase to RD$58,000 for doctors, revision of the recovery quota charged by the hospitals, job provision for resident students and pensions for health personnel.
Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez said that he would replace doctors with doctors assigned to the Ministry of Public Health during the strike and added that no more meetings with President Leonel Fernandez would be granted. He added that this could be blamed on Waldo Ariel Suero, the CMD president.
Suero, in turn, argued that Rojas had tricked the doctors by creating a commission of sub-Ministers in order to play for time.
The deadline Education Minister Alejandrina German gave to journalist Nuria Piera came and went and there was nothing to show for it. Last week German threatened Piera that if she didn't retract comments made about a house German owns in Jarabacoa, she would take legal action. During a press conference last week at the Hotel Lina, German explained that the house was declared under her husband's name and that he had to take out a loan to pay for its construction. According to German, the house is valued at RD$5 million. Hoy writes that even if German delays seeking legal protection she has a period of two months after the accusations were made in order to pursue legal action. These legal woes are only one of many concerns for the Minister, who broke her left wrist yesterday when she slipped and fell while walking down stairs. Doctors have ordered her to take a two-day rest.
National Police Chief Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin is lobbying for the Dominican Penal Code to be changed. The Police Chief wants minors who commit serious crimes to be tried as adults. Guzman, who is well known for his tough stance on crime, says that most violent crimes in the DR are committed by young people between the ages of 10 and 17. Guzman said that these youngsters are used as drug mules or hit men and are released from jail with relative ease due to the protection they enjoy as juveniles under the Penal Code. Guzman added that these young men have become leaders of medium-sized drug trafficking rings and have a negative effect on society. The Police Chief challenged the notion that poverty has anything to with it, adding that just because a child is poor or doesn't have a job it doesn't justify violent acts. He said that 90% of prisoners come from broken homes, but that a distinction needs to be made between crime and violence.
Interior and Police Minister Franklyn Almeyda says that the crime rate declined by 20.2% between 2005 and 2007. In 2005 the crime rate was at 26.41%. Almeyda says that the implementation of Barrio Seguro has been a key factor in fighting crime, although the program has received its fare share of criticism. Almeyda highlights the success of Barrio Seguro in Santiago where crime went down by an estimated 25% since the program went into action in 2006. Almeyda dismissed critics by saying that they were unaware of the information and statistics of Barrio Seguro, which is part of the National Security Plan.
Dominican and Haitian cattle ranchers met yesterday in the Haitian municipality of Ferie to agree on policies aimed at preventing the theft of cattle and returning stolen cattle to their owners. Dajabon Cattle Ranchers Association president Pedro Jose Suero was at the meeting, as was Miguel Cruz from the Dominican embassy in Haiti. Listin Diario writes that although no concrete policies were agreed, there was willingness to cooperate, which they hope will avert tensions in the future. Listin explains that the 16 cows and 2 horses that were stolen weren't returned immediately, but Haitian officials assure that they are safe and are being held in quarantine. The meeting came days after mounting tensions were reported over armed cattle farmers crossing into Haiti. The farmers took 16 cows and 2 horses that they want to exchange for the nearly two dozen cattle that had been stolen and taken into Haiti just a few days earlier.
The Dominican Republic team didn't win the champions cup during the XXVII International Independent Boxing Cup tournament, but Dominican boxers Juan Carlos Payano and Claudio Marrero were able to obtain gold medals in individual events during the tournament, which was held in Santiago de los Caballeros. Still it was the Cuban team who stole the show as they had six representatives in the final rounds of competition. Cuba won 43 points, the DR came second with 27 points, and Brazil was third with 24 points
Plaza Lama is advertising sales with potatoes at RD$9.75lb, eggplant at RD$5.75lb, bugalu tomatoes RD$12.95lb, red onions at RD$16.95lb, cucumbers RD$7.95lb, and carrots at RD$8.75lb. Jumbo has sales in its fruits and vegetables department, with carrots for RD$5.95lb, Cubanela green peppers for RD$7.95lb, cabbage for RD$17.95ea, plantains for US$7.50, green grapes for RD$69.95lb, and Roma apples for RD$19.95lb. La Cadena is selling a 1,500g bag of Milex full cream powder milk for RD$299.95 today. Bravo supermarket has 30% off fruits, vegetables, natural juices and salad goods for its Bravisimo club members.
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