President Luis Abinader, in his Accountability speech, summarized the achievements made in managing the economy since he assumed the Executive Power in August 2020.
The president highlighted that they have managed to reduce the public deficit from 7.9% in 2020 to 2.7% in 2021, thereby improving the projections we had of 4.1% for that year.
He also pointed out that the consolidated debt of the public sector was reduced by 6.4 percentage points, from 69.1% at the end of 2020 to 62.7% at the end of 2021.
Abinader explained that health was and is the most urgent, but that these years of pandemic are being left behind to look to a clearer future but that still contemplates important economic challenges on the horizon such as the consolidation of the economic recovery and the fight against inflation.
He said that the war unleashed in Ukraine conditions everything, and adds to an already complex scenario.
However, the president explained that his government has worked to improve and face the current adversities in better circumstances. In this part, he highlighted that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached a remarkable year-on-year growth of 12.3% in the period January-December 2021.
“This growth places the Dominican Republic among the top 10 countries with the highest economic growth in the world in 2021 and consolidates our economy as the most dynamic in Latin America,” said the president.
Regarding international reserves and foreign direct investment, Abinader explained that the economy closed 2021 with the highest level of foreign exchange reserves in history with US$13,000 million and US$3,000 million in net investment flows.
Another point highlighted by the president was the achievement of better management of public companies, pointing to the example of Refidomsa or Banreservas, which achieved extraordinary performance in 2021.
“The net profits of Banreservas amounted to 16,307 million pesos this year, with an increase of 57% compared to 2020,” said Abinader.
