SANTO DOMINGO.- The public sector debt, internal as well as external, jumped by US$1.74 billion in 2008 compared with December, 2007, to US$10.36 billion.
To December 31, 2007, the total debt was US$8.54 billion, which means a 20.1 percent increase for 2008, according to the Hacienda Ministry’s third quarter report to Congress.
The US$10.36 billion is 22.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, and is comprised of US$9.23 billion of the non-financial public sector and US$1.1 billion of the financial public sector.
The report shows that 80.3% a of the total debt us external, with an unpaid balance of US$8.3 billion, or US$697.3 million more than the figure to December 31, 2007, resulting from net flows of payments less amortizations of US$714.6 million and a negative exchange variation of US$17.3 million, caused by appreciation in the average value of the U.S. dollar’s gains against other foreign currencies.
According to the report, 19.7% correspond to the internal debt total of RD$72.0 billion, RD$59.2 billion of which correspond to direct indebtedness of the Central Government; RD$326.2 million correspond to indirect indebtedness, derived from the secure loans to the Free Zones; and RD$12.5 billion to the rest of the public sector’s non-financial entities.
External debt
According to the Hacienda report, to December 31m 2008, the foreign national debt totaled US$8.3 billion, or 18.0% of the GDP.
Of the total foreign debt 73.5% was contracted with official creditors: 28.8% from multilateral organisms, and 44.7 percent from bilateral sources.
The debt with private creditors is 26.5% of the total: 19.5% in bonds (sovereign and Brady), 6.9% with commercial banks and 0.1% with suppliers.
From: Canada, Toronto ,Cabbagetown,Parliament and Gerrard
Magic 8 Ball sil vous plait........we are in the vortex of the big drain and we are circling rapidly
Written by: josean, 6 Mar 2009 10:57 AM
From: United States, Show your Love for DR Vote AGAINST the PLD!
Don't worry the revenue generated by the METRO will be more than enough to pay for this increased debt, not to mention to build the Metro in Ramon Santana!
From: United States
Please,
The team of Leonel Fernadez and his excellency Leonel are the most open that the DR has ever had. There are no closed door policies. Everything is above board and in the open.
PS. The Electric companies still have not been paid the 350,000,000. US They are owed.
From: United States
What does that mean? DR belongs to the lenders. DR is on the auction block. Leonel has to be careful with his crazy-out of control spending without limit. THAT'S VERY SCARRRRRRRRRY!!!!!!
Written by: generoso, 6 Mar 2009 11:20 AM
From: United States, Quisqueya
The more you owe the more the creditors want you to stay in good shape.
Let's borrow as much as we can as long as we invest the proceeds in public works and projects
that will generate income not just on overhead fixed expenses like payroll.
From: United States
The snow job is growing.
Add up the numbers above they don't make sense or add up to 100%
Written by: Louisny, 6 Mar 2009 2:31 PM
From: United States
It is sad what I read above. Many Dominicans have and still ignoring the main reason why the U.S made a military ocupation in 1916 in the Dominican Republic.
Written by: juanb, 6 Mar 2009 4:06 PM
From: Dominican Republic
Any time a leader tells you not to worry about the economics of a country because he has lined up 10 suckers to lend money, that is the time to start worrying.
Written by: belly51, 6 Mar 2009 4:12 PM
From: Dominican Republic, San Francisco y Houston,TX
well i'm not surprise og this he is following Fidel every where he was to catch him soon we only got 39 billion left to be on the same boat.
Written by: jacirez 
, 6 Mar 2009 4:27 PM
From: Iran, Zähedän
Before you guys get all crazy consider this:
A public debt of US$10.36 billion on a GDP of $90 Billion is not as bad as it's sounds...
The U.S has a public debt of $10,699.8 trillion, with a GDP of $14 trillion...
From: Dominican Republic
Even when oil went down and we kept borrowing. Incredible!
From: Dominican Republic
WE ARE NOT THE U.S.! Comparisons of this kind between a superpower and a poor country who is extremely dependent and corrupted (and with a small middle class) is not Alka Zetzer or panacea for making us feel good! We are borrowing at an alarming rate and this debt is being delegated to our future generation. We may loose Moody's rating on this one. This debt is limiting the Goverment and Dominican society options! DEBT IS BAD and it is hurting us right now! Leonel stop taking money and spending it the way you want it to!
From: United States, NY/NJ
As Proverbs 22:7 says "... the borrower is servant to the lender." As a poor country having the necessity to keep borrowing more and more money is just shackling the chains on each of our limbs one by one.
In response to Josean's comment ridiculing the metro, what you need to understand is that this is an infrastructure project which not only elevates citizens morale, but encourages advancement in the general population with respect to education and economic progress. Yes we are a poor country and needed to borrow the money but at least this was money borrowed that was put to good use, facilitating travel for workers in the capital and soon other parts of the country, unless you prefer the mayhem of overcrowded streets because of too many automobiles and not enough structure.
Leonel's transparency policy is very good IMO since it shows the people that every action has a consequence, but shows the effort put into acknowledging that we have issues that they are working on resolving
Written by: josean, 10 Mar 2009 7:13 AM
From: United States, Show your Love for DR Vote AGAINST the PLD!
Building the Metro is like the guy who buys a new expensive car before he owns a house; A STUPID decision!
You know what "elevates citizens morale" education, health care, safe streets, affordable housing, affordable credit, good paying jobs, more equity in social resources distribution. Not a Disney World/Fantasy Island feel good kiddy ride in METROLANDIA!
"facilitating travel for workers in the capital"
WRONG not the Capital, just 14 km. The money could have been spent on cheaper forms of transportation that could of covered much more of Santo Culcutta than this under ground nonsense. Possibly a light rail or another above ground system.
This was more about show, ego, political survival and Lie-onel Fernandez's legacy, than the prioritised needs of the country!
As hard as it is for many here at DT to understand, The Capital is part of the country, not the whole country!
From: United States, NY/NJ
14 km is no small chunk of land my friend, it passes by some of the most important streets of the capital where many people work. Yes the capital is not the whole country but it is the origin of what happens in the rest of the country since it is the financial center.
I agree part of it was about show but presentation is important for a high tourism country such as ours so appearances must be kept to high standards.
The main problem is whenever money gets borrowed for other projects, they take an eternity to get done, not to mention that some never get completed with all the corrupt politicians taking the money.
You need to understand that the other problems would take a much larger amount of resources to solve over time, morale is very important to the public, so if they feel good about their country, it helps Leonel stay in power long enough to keep on implementing the vital changes needed for economic progress.
The main obstacle is a lack of good paying jobs but that won't ch
Written by: josean, 10 Mar 2009 6:52 PM
From: United States, Show your Love for DR Vote AGAINST the PLD!
"I agree part of it was about show but presentation is important for a high tourism country such as ours so appearances must be kept to high standards."
Well shiver me timbers and I thought tourist came for beaches, sun, flora, fauna, museums, but its actually the METRO that they come for, who would've known.
Punta Cana, Bavaro, Puerto Plata, Juan Dolio you guys better build a METRO, if not you going to lose your tourists to The Villa Mella Chicharron Express!
So that's why tourism is down, people are choosing to come La Capital to see the 8th wonder of the world, Lie-onel Fernandez's Choo Choo train!
From: United States, NY/NJ
lol man you really really really hate the metro! I see it as a step in the right direction in modernizing the country. The country is like a set of legos, it has to be built piece by piece to get a final complete result :)
But hey no sense in trying to sway you since you seem to be a Leonel and Metro hater to the fullest, but that is fine everyone is entitled to their opinions.
Written by: josean, 10 Mar 2009 11:19 PM
From: United States, Show your Love for DR Vote AGAINST the PLD!
The_Analyst,
I also respect your opinions and would fight to the death for you and every body else's right to express them.
I sincerely do not hate anyone just what they stand for corruption, greed, opportunism, wasting the lives of the Dominican people by give them everything but what they need.
No society can succeed much less thrive without the priority of the highest quality free public universal education. Anything less is window dressing!
See I think the opposite: I think when tourists or visitors see the METRO the laugh at us rather than being impressed. They see it as symbol of backwardness. In the sense that we build objects rather that building opportunity for human beings by addressing the more pressing social necessities; that in the long run will build a solid well educated society that can build its own METROs, with minimal foreign assistance in the financing and engineering.
But we certainly can agree to disagree without being disagreeable!
From: United States, NY/NJ
I at first didn't like the idea of the Metro not because of what it was but mainly the cost, which equated to a hefty borrowed amount. $600 Million US dollars I think was the cost, I don't remember the exact amount. It seems you and I have the same ideas regarding the education system, as that is the true and only real way for our country to progress. The two things that hold back our country are lack of mass education and corruption. If the politicians spent less time worrying about enriching just themselves the country would be in much better shape. Money could be used for innovation and we in turn could learn the knowledge to advance our technological systems and entire infrastructure. Our electricity system is shameful by modern standards, but we lack the discretionary income to pay for everything. I would hope Leonel would put educational measures in place like in Cuba where everyone must graduate H.S. with no exceptions. If it wasn't for their communist system Cuba IMO
From: United States, NY/NJ
would be one of the powerhouses in the carribean. I have yet to meet an uneducated Cuban, each one I have met that was born in CUba knows skills and has knowledge to further himself, I believe this is one of the reasons they are one of the wealthiest hispanic groups in the USA. Our educational system from what I have been hearing has been getting worse, they seem to be pushing for vocational type courses instead of full on degrees. When we start producing more of our own scientists, engineers, doctors, economists, and financial professionals, the possibilities will open up instead of us having to rely on all these foreign loans from the IMF and World Bank which just cripple us with interest overtime which slows down more projects because we have to work on paying back the loans plus interest. Many politicians seem to just mention to the masses what they want to hear about luxury items for everyone and that they will fix problems when in fact they only plant maybe 1 seed then steal.
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The team of Leonel Fernadez and his excellency Leonel are the most open that the DR has ever had. There are no closed door policies. Everything is above board and in the open.
PS. The Electric companies still have not been paid the 350,000,000. US They are owed.
Let's borrow as much as we can as long as we invest the proceeds in public works and projects
that will generate income not just on overhead fixed expenses like payroll.
Add up the numbers above they don't make sense or add up to 100%
A public debt of US$10.36 billion on a GDP of $90 Billion is not as bad as it's sounds...
The U.S has a public debt of $10,699.8 trillion, with a GDP of $14 trillion...
In response to Josean's comment ridiculing the metro, what you need to understand is that this is an infrastructure project which not only elevates citizens morale, but encourages advancement in the general population with respect to education and economic progress. Yes we are a poor country and needed to borrow the money but at least this was money borrowed that was put to good use, facilitating travel for workers in the capital and soon other parts of the country, unless you prefer the mayhem of overcrowded streets because of too many automobiles and not enough structure.
Leonel's transparency policy is very good IMO since it shows the people that every action has a consequence, but shows the effort put into acknowledging that we have issues that they are working on resolving
You know what "elevates citizens morale" education, health care, safe streets, affordable housing, affordable credit, good paying jobs, more equity in social resources distribution. Not a Disney World/Fantasy Island feel good kiddy ride in METROLANDIA!
"facilitating travel for workers in the capital"
WRONG not the Capital, just 14 km. The money could have been spent on cheaper forms of transportation that could of covered much more of Santo Culcutta than this under ground nonsense. Possibly a light rail or another above ground system.
This was more about show, ego, political survival and Lie-onel Fernandez's legacy, than the prioritised needs of the country!
As hard as it is for many here at DT to understand, The Capital is part of the country, not the whole country!
I agree part of it was about show but presentation is important for a high tourism country such as ours so appearances must be kept to high standards.
The main problem is whenever money gets borrowed for other projects, they take an eternity to get done, not to mention that some never get completed with all the corrupt politicians taking the money.
You need to understand that the other problems would take a much larger amount of resources to solve over time, morale is very important to the public, so if they feel good about their country, it helps Leonel stay in power long enough to keep on implementing the vital changes needed for economic progress.
The main obstacle is a lack of good paying jobs but that won't ch
Well shiver me timbers and I thought tourist came for beaches, sun, flora, fauna, museums, but its actually the METRO that they come for, who would've known.
Punta Cana, Bavaro, Puerto Plata, Juan Dolio you guys better build a METRO, if not you going to lose your tourists to The Villa Mella Chicharron Express!
So that's why tourism is down, people are choosing to come La Capital to see the 8th wonder of the world, Lie-onel Fernandez's Choo Choo train!
But hey no sense in trying to sway you since you seem to be a Leonel and Metro hater to the fullest, but that is fine everyone is entitled to their opinions.
I also respect your opinions and would fight to the death for you and every body else's right to express them.
I sincerely do not hate anyone just what they stand for corruption, greed, opportunism, wasting the lives of the Dominican people by give them everything but what they need.
No society can succeed much less thrive without the priority of the highest quality free public universal education. Anything less is window dressing!
See I think the opposite: I think when tourists or visitors see the METRO the laugh at us rather than being impressed. They see it as symbol of backwardness. In the sense that we build objects rather that building opportunity for human beings by addressing the more pressing social necessities; that in the long run will build a solid well educated society that can build its own METROs, with minimal foreign assistance in the financing and engineering.
But we certainly can agree to disagree without being disagreeable!