WASHINGTON.- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday predicted that Dominican Republic’s economy grow will from 5 to 5.5% this year, a figure much higher than its previous estimate, which too its good start of the year into account.
The organism raised its estimate as part of the second revision of the joint credit pact, through which will place around 1.7 billion dollars at the disposal of the country until 2012, if the Government reaches the agreed objectives.
Alejandro Santos, in charge of the Dominican Republic for the IMF, affirmed that the country has accomplished the goals set until March, despite delays in the electrical sector’s reform, and that its economic performance has been "impressive," as evidenced by the 7.5% growth in the first quarter, compared with the same year ago period.
"Exports and imports, tax collections and the private credit are expanding at healthy rates," said Santos, who headed a delegation which visited Santo Domingo frp, May 18 to 28 to prepare its evaluation.
That jump has spurred the IMF to raise this year’s growth forecast around two percentage points, after having placed it at 3.5% in April.
Written by: RaDaMeZ, 1 Jun 2010 3:12 PM
From: Dominican Republic, La Romana, Casa De Campo
Can't wait for june 3 going to DR
Written by: juanb, 1 Jun 2010 3:15 PM
From: Dominican Republic
Unfortunately the IMF's projections are based on the numbers that our people give them.
From: Turkey, Ham & Cheese
With all the development projects going on this is no surprise. High rise buildings, Metro line 2, Corredor Duarte, Resorts, Hotels etc.
Written by: LuiGy, 1 Jun 2010 4:52 PM
From: United States
juanb,
and they are inflated numbers
From: United States
actually, they are generally highly overstated, because countries almost never give out data on capital consumption, which alters the forecasts quite significantly.
Written by: Atabey, 1 Jun 2010 11:17 PM
From: United States, NYC
Not too shabby if the growth can be maintained. Those bonds and debts may yet be based on reasonable numbers.
Written by: Belly, 2 Jun 2010 12:28 AM
From: United States, Seattle, W.A.
To me a 5.5% growth sounds reasonable, heck 6% could be reasonable but the problem I have been watching over the years is even at 8.5% growth we still had a 40% poverty rate and at lower growth the number looks the same as far as poverty rate goes. So this so call growth is simply not making an impact on the bottom of rack in DR or in plain English the average "Joe six pack". Life at the bottom must be improve through education since is the cheapest and best method to solve this problem of uneven growth.
From: United States
actually, one of the ironies of using the GDP as a measure of the quality of life in a country is that, in certain cases, it actually reflects higher numbers when people are worse off. take a simple example.if government fails to ensure that people have uninterrupted electricity service, people have to buy inverters. and batteries. and plantas. and diesel fuel. all of this cuts into the family budget, putting extreme financial strain on poor folks. yet, at the end of the day, the GDP looks rosy. the same can be said of poor schooling, poor potable water delivery, and just about every aspect of life that government should attend to, but neglects, such as health care. similarly, when claro raises the fifty peso card by 20%, to sixty pesos, and orange falls in line, the poor have to shell out a lot for a service they use daily( actually, in some cases,overuse). i guess you get the drift by now. when people have to shell out money to provide amenities by way of self help, the GDP
From: United States
goes up. so, it is not an indicator of a better quality of life. countries in a state where they export most of what they produce, and import nothing, will have a higher GDP than an equivalent counry with a more balanced trade policy. but they will not have the same level of development.
Written by: Belly, 2 Jun 2010 1:08 AM
From: United States, Seattle, W.A.
Dread
We talked about the construction industry in DR a while back and to me is the best example of how numbers can trick the general public because while it has grown a lot year by year since late 90s it has also seen a huge decline in Dominican workers in the same field. Since most people won't connect the dots when you look a the construction industry by the number anybody would guess is doing good but is simply have been a disaster since the average joe doesn't get anything out of it.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
The merchants of gloom still hate to say that we are on a good course simply because it is not a perfect course. Yes, there are still too many poor people who are not benefiting from the economic growth and yes much of the growth is in the government sector where there will be wastage and ineconomies but at the same time there is a large number of people who have realised that the new industries bring new jobs and who have moved with the times and are benefitting .
The figures accumulated by the IMF probably do have an input from government sources but I am sure there are also audits and checks to ensure that the released estimates have credibility ..
Dreadlocks takes the prize again for stating that the higher the GDP,the worse off could be the people ..so I guess we should all be praying for negative growth so we can be better off..please !! give us a break
From: Dominican Republic, No Spin Zone
Ricky that is the info that keeps coming out of Dreads " Magic 8 Ball " of economic forecast
From: United States
Ricardolito, thanks for the prize. now that i have stated an economic reality, what you need to do is to dispute it, not crack wise. let me repeat, once more, with feeling. GDP, AS A NUMBER, means absolutely nothing. it does not tell how it increases. it does not say how much deficit spending is involved in increasing it by a point. it does not say what the externalities are in its expansion. it does not examine sustainability of the process. all it does is to say how much money is spent. it does not take into account wasteful politically motivated giveaways to politicians. it does not tell what kinds of environmentally destructive initiatives help to increase it. stop being entranced aby a silly number. it means squat, when viewed in a vaccuum. and yes, GDP can increase when government services to the poor decrease, because the poor will then have to resort to self help. this is not rocket science, Ricardolito.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 3:19 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
thats a biggter number then the one for brazil.
later the numbers will change. wait and see.
Written by: devin11, 2 Jun 2010 6:00 PM
From: United States, The Greatest City
Does anyone know what the poverty line standard threshold is for the DR? I know for sure that the US poverty line standards are not the same as in DR. In the US for example the poverty line threshold for a two person family is just under $15,000 per year. If anyone knows, please let me know, I'm just curious what that number would be.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 6:15 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
u sqaid.......The merchants of gloom still hate to say that we are on a good course simply because it is not a perfect course. OK!
U WANT NUMBERS OK!
BRAZIL will be the economic star of the region this year, followed by peru, panama and mexico. brazil will grow by 5.5 percent this year, peru, chile, panama and mexico will expand by between 4and 5 percent. argentina, boliva, colombia, paraguary, dominican republic, costa rico will show moderate growth rates of between 3-4 percent.
VENEZUELA will show and economic contraction this year. {hugo chavez at the helms}
but all of this does not compare well with CHINA, which is PROJECTED to grow by nearly 10% this year. nor does all this numbers for the dominican republic and brazil look very promising when u look beyond the NEXT TWO YEARS.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 6:22 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
a projection buried in one of the WORLD BANKS reports is very telling; it shows ASIA'S commerical penetration will rise from 16% to 22% of the world trade over the NEXT FOUR YEARS. LATIN AMERICA will fall from 4.2% to 4.0 percent. LARGLEY because of the REGIONS FAILURE to come up with new PRODUCTS.
the united states registers 77,000 PATENTS A YEAR, SOUTH KOREA 7,500, BRAZIL REGISTERS ONLY 100, MEXICO ABOUT 50 AND ARGENTIA 30.
SO U WANT TO BE A MAJOR WORLD PLAYER DO U ?
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 6:25 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
the fact remains that economic progress in the global economy will depend on who comes up with the best new products.
{ drug dealers will not be counted}
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 6:30 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
to achieve long-term growth with strong currencies, the dr will have to export increasingly sophisticated good, and that will require much more education and more innovation.
this not going to happen in the dr at this point
long way to go with the education problems in the dr.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 6:33 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
sorry i have to say yes the course is not perfect as one said today.
but in the real world the dr is slowing sinking more fast then they know.
when u look at china and asia, and the states they are a million years in front.
Written by: Belly, 2 Jun 2010 6:46 PM
From: United States, Seattle, W.A.
Danny
You comparing oranges to apples. First you can't compare the growth of China with the growth of DR because there are 10 million possible customers in DR and 1.5 Billion possible customers in China. If you are going to compare you should do so in countries where population and conditions are the same. Comparing the world most powerful country USA with DR is kind of a pointless argument on your part. Both DR and Brazil have a average growth per year in their GDP very similar since the 50s and both growth bigger percentage wise than most country you mentioned in the American continent.
Compare the growth of DR with any country on this continent (America) in percentage per year in it's GDP and you will find out DR has done good in that part of it. The problem is it has not been felt by the people at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/publicdata?....d_zg&idim=country:BRA:DOM:CRIWritten by: Belly, 2 Jun 2010 7:01 PM
From: United States, Seattle, W.A.
As it has been said here before by many including me GDP growth does not equate improvement in standard of living for everybody which is the problem in DR and clearly evident by looking at the poverty rate that has not changed with the growth of our GDP. GDP growth is good if is coming from a sound policy and even environment in the private sector otherwise is pointless to growth if the average Joe doesn't benefit from it.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 7:30 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
really its not apples nor oranges.
in the big picture what the dr really needs is an EDUCATION-OBSESSED PRESIDENT.
i spoke about what is important for growth before and i stand with my statement.
the dr needs to edcuated their young. does not matter now big the country is look at FINLAND i wrote about them weeks ago the country only has 5 million people.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
devlin11,regrettably those sensible type of questions are seldom answered here as few writers assemble facts before posting . Such figures are not readily available in a handbook so we need to do our own home work to find out estimates .
in this case what is the official poverty line,if there is such a thing here ?? The overwhelming majority of Dominicans live in large family groups in cramped conditions with irregular electricity and foul water and the majority of the food is poorly balanced . Most have no or very little savings one week to another . That is the picture for over 50% of the population by my observations and the majority of Dominicans live in what ,in world terms ,is called poverty. Similar to many African and Latin countries..a dreadful inequality of living standards between haves and have nots.
It is hard to nominate a thresh hold figure for a poverty line but in my opinion to have a few clothes,food , water,rent and electricity one needs at least 80,000 pesos
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
I hope others may be able to calculate a minimum income needed to avoid poverty ..I feel most would nominate a higher figure than my 80,000 pesos but would also suggest that most people have a lower figure which would support my theory that the majority od Dominicans are below the poverty line .
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 7:41 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
only two decades ago finland a small country by most measures the poorest country in northern europe, finland is the headquarters for the cell phone maker- nokia- and cutting edge paper and pulp technology.
the finnish success story has triggered curiosity from around the world especially latin america where most countries have yet made the transition from exporters of raw materials to producers of high -tech goods that sell for much higher prices in the world markets.
From: Dominican Republic, vieja Santo Domingo
danny00..you have correctly stated ,as has Dreadlocks and others ,that the GDP growth does not equate to a cross the board improvement for everyone and the IMF has also commented regretting that the divisions in wealth are so great ..but it is the same in the countries you compared the DR with Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica ,China and in all these countries they have not developed a proper social framework . In the DR ,where the overwhelming majority of middle class Dominican families are experiencing wealth for the first time,it is almost impossible to get them to help those less fortunate ,so keen are they to buy every material item for the first time .
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 7:52 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
his was done in three words education, education, education.
findland invested more then most other countries in recent decades to create an excellent tuition-free education system. this nhas helped it make the jump from and agrarian, timber-based economy into a technological powerhouse.
findland ranks 1st among 179 countries in transparency
freeddom houses raking of the worlds most democratic countries
number #1 in the world in 15-year-old students standardized test scores in seience
the u.s. ranks #15 in the world.
so this small country of 5 million people did all of this with education.
Written by: danny00, 2 Jun 2010 7:59 PM
From: United States, syosset, key west, santo domingo AND NOW THE GLOBE TROTTER
In the DR ,where the overwhelming majority of middle class Dominican families are experiencing wealth for the first time,it is almost impossible to get them to help those less fortunate ,so keen are they to buy every material item for the first time .
GOOD STATEMENT..... BUT A SAD ONE DOMINICANS NEED
TO HELP EACH OTHER
BE NICE IF THE BASEBALL PLAYERS WOULD VOLUNTEERED TO HELP THEIR OWN. AND I DO NOT MEAN BY BUILDING A SMALL CHURCH OUTSIDE SANTO DOMINGO THAT MAY COST THEM $5,000US..... I MEAN REALLY HELP WITH THE SALARYS THEY MAKE THEY CAN DO THIS... BUT AT THE SAME TIME NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL ANYONE WHAT TO DO WITH HIS ,MONEY. BUT WE ALL NEED TO LIVE WITH THIS. IM NOT A RICH MAN BUT MAKE A REALLY GOOD SALARY AND I GIVE AS MUCH AS I CAN TO THE POOR IN THE DR.AND HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS. {
Written by: Belly, 2 Jun 2010 8:04 PM
From: United States, Seattle, W.A.
Danny
only two decades ago finland a small country by most measures the poorest country in northern europe, finland is the headquarters for the cell phone maker- nokia- and cutting edge paper and pulp technology.
Your statement is simply not true here because in the late 80s to very early 90s Finland had a higher GDP per capita higher than USA. So if you consider $30,000 per capita a poor country then I guess even some state in USA are still very poor. I can't remember any statistical data that points out Finland being poor ever but if you have it please put it forward. Also Finland is part of the European Union not as you want to make it look like here.
From: United States
danny00, sadly, the mindset of the dominican ballplayers is more in tune with coming home in the offseason, and riding around through carwashes with their entourages, in Hummers. they might host a barrio party, and splurge on a few beers for the locals, but doing what the african players, like Manute Bol, and Hakeem have done, which is to build hospitals and schools in their countries, is not something many can be accused of.
Written by: LuiGy, 3 Jun 2010 9:06 AM
From: United States
education is not the only issue to fuel our country. what we need is freedom. we cant be waiting for others to come in and build hospitals and schools. we need to understand what are the laws the gov has in place that is holding the country back. we need a more capitalist society with small gov and less taxes.
From: United States
really,LuiGy? that is what you have already. what you need is a more socialistic society, wherein government spends more money on the amenities for the poor, such as health care and education. what you have now is a society in which 10 families own the whole country, and everyone else, including the church, the military, and the political establishment , works for them. that is capitalism, at least the way i was taught it.
From: United States
LuiGy, next time you are on the north cost, and you see these huge tracts of unused lands, casually ask a bystander who owns the land. you will have the same names repeated over, and over, and over. people like the Brugal family own just every about piece of arable land in places like Montellano, and the surrounding areas.saying we need capitalism is like saying a cow neads teats.
From: Dominican Republic, No Spin Zone
Yeah and thats what Fidel said as well !
From: United States
irrelevant
Written by: Atabey, 3 Jun 2010 1:31 PM
From: United States, NYC
Dread,
On this issue of economic growth and growing inequality. There exist various studies that point out this phenomenon but the interesting aspect is the role of the central government and the national elite to adjust the massive gains secured by allocating resources, taxes and user fees, to those areas of the nation in need of promoting further economic growth and expansion. Again, public and private investments in businesses and public works program, e.g. the Metro, work to generate labor expansion. Fernandez is the first Dom President in history I believe, to actually put in place a modern system of financial accounting management! No more "little black book" a la Balaguer. To those Dominicans accustomed to the old ways, this has been a traumatic experience, but to those nursed under modern systems and organizational structures, its arrival is a great blessing. Sure these gains need to be secured against the corrupt practices of some, but that's always been the case sadly
Written by: Atabey, 3 Jun 2010 1:37 PM
From: United States, NYC
And as the growing agricultural sector expands with the tourist sector, a long over due synergistic relationship has developed. As Blutarsky has stated, this can have regional implications given that the DR has all the inputs to become the breadbasket of the Caribbean. Lots of land, lots of cheap labor, and finally a commitment to find use for both thru export promotion.
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and they are inflated numbers
We talked about the construction industry in DR a while back and to me is the best example of how numbers can trick the general public because while it has grown a lot year by year since late 90s it has also seen a huge decline in Dominican workers in the same field. Since most people won't connect the dots when you look a the construction industry by the number anybody would guess is doing good but is simply have been a disaster since the average joe doesn't get anything out of it.
The figures accumulated by the IMF probably do have an input from government sources but I am sure there are also audits and checks to ensure that the released estimates have credibility ..
Dreadlocks takes the prize again for stating that the higher the GDP,the worse off could be the people ..so I guess we should all be praying for negative growth so we can be better off..please !! give us a break
later the numbers will change. wait and see.
U WANT NUMBERS OK!
BRAZIL will be the economic star of the region this year, followed by peru, panama and mexico. brazil will grow by 5.5 percent this year, peru, chile, panama and mexico will expand by between 4and 5 percent. argentina, boliva, colombia, paraguary, dominican republic, costa rico will show moderate growth rates of between 3-4 percent.
VENEZUELA will show and economic contraction this year. {hugo chavez at the helms}
but all of this does not compare well with CHINA, which is PROJECTED to grow by nearly 10% this year. nor does all this numbers for the dominican republic and brazil look very promising when u look beyond the NEXT TWO YEARS.
the united states registers 77,000 PATENTS A YEAR, SOUTH KOREA 7,500, BRAZIL REGISTERS ONLY 100, MEXICO ABOUT 50 AND ARGENTIA 30.
SO U WANT TO BE A MAJOR WORLD PLAYER DO U ?
{ drug dealers will not be counted}
this not going to happen in the dr at this point
long way to go with the education problems in the dr.
but in the real world the dr is slowing sinking more fast then they know.
when u look at china and asia, and the states they are a million years in front.
You comparing oranges to apples. First you can't compare the growth of China with the growth of DR because there are 10 million possible customers in DR and 1.5 Billion possible customers in China. If you are going to compare you should do so in countries where population and conditions are the same. Comparing the world most powerful country USA with DR is kind of a pointless argument on your part. Both DR and Brazil have a average growth per year in their GDP very similar since the 50s and both growth bigger percentage wise than most country you mentioned in the American continent.
Compare the growth of DR with any country on this continent (America) in percentage per year in it's GDP and you will find out DR has done good in that part of it. The problem is it has not been felt by the people at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/publicdata?....d_zg&idim=country:BRA:DOM:CRI
in the big picture what the dr really needs is an EDUCATION-OBSESSED PRESIDENT.
i spoke about what is important for growth before and i stand with my statement.
the dr needs to edcuated their young. does not matter now big the country is look at FINLAND i wrote about them weeks ago the country only has 5 million people.
in this case what is the official poverty line,if there is such a thing here ?? The overwhelming majority of Dominicans live in large family groups in cramped conditions with irregular electricity and foul water and the majority of the food is poorly balanced . Most have no or very little savings one week to another . That is the picture for over 50% of the population by my observations and the majority of Dominicans live in what ,in world terms ,is called poverty. Similar to many African and Latin countries..a dreadful inequality of living standards between haves and have nots.
It is hard to nominate a thresh hold figure for a poverty line but in my opinion to have a few clothes,food , water,rent and electricity one needs at least 80,000 pesos
the finnish success story has triggered curiosity from around the world especially latin america where most countries have yet made the transition from exporters of raw materials to producers of high -tech goods that sell for much higher prices in the world markets.
findland invested more then most other countries in recent decades to create an excellent tuition-free education system. this nhas helped it make the jump from and agrarian, timber-based economy into a technological powerhouse.
findland ranks 1st among 179 countries in transparency
freeddom houses raking of the worlds most democratic countries
number #1 in the world in 15-year-old students standardized test scores in seience
the u.s. ranks #15 in the world.
so this small country of 5 million people did all of this with education.
GOOD STATEMENT..... BUT A SAD ONE DOMINICANS NEED
TO HELP EACH OTHER
BE NICE IF THE BASEBALL PLAYERS WOULD VOLUNTEERED TO HELP THEIR OWN. AND I DO NOT MEAN BY BUILDING A SMALL CHURCH OUTSIDE SANTO DOMINGO THAT MAY COST THEM $5,000US..... I MEAN REALLY HELP WITH THE SALARYS THEY MAKE THEY CAN DO THIS... BUT AT THE SAME TIME NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TELL ANYONE WHAT TO DO WITH HIS ,MONEY. BUT WE ALL NEED TO LIVE WITH THIS. IM NOT A RICH MAN BUT MAKE A REALLY GOOD SALARY AND I GIVE AS MUCH AS I CAN TO THE POOR IN THE DR.AND HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS. {
only two decades ago finland a small country by most measures the poorest country in northern europe, finland is the headquarters for the cell phone maker- nokia- and cutting edge paper and pulp technology.
Your statement is simply not true here because in the late 80s to very early 90s Finland had a higher GDP per capita higher than USA. So if you consider $30,000 per capita a poor country then I guess even some state in USA are still very poor. I can't remember any statistical data that points out Finland being poor ever but if you have it please put it forward. Also Finland is part of the European Union not as you want to make it look like here.
On this issue of economic growth and growing inequality. There exist various studies that point out this phenomenon but the interesting aspect is the role of the central government and the national elite to adjust the massive gains secured by allocating resources, taxes and user fees, to those areas of the nation in need of promoting further economic growth and expansion. Again, public and private investments in businesses and public works program, e.g. the Metro, work to generate labor expansion. Fernandez is the first Dom President in history I believe, to actually put in place a modern system of financial accounting management! No more "little black book" a la Balaguer. To those Dominicans accustomed to the old ways, this has been a traumatic experience, but to those nursed under modern systems and organizational structures, its arrival is a great blessing. Sure these gains need to be secured against the corrupt practices of some, but that's always been the case sadly