The Democratic Option party warned yesterday that the salary increase announced by the Government is not enough to cover the basic family basket and called on the National Salary Committee (CNS), headed by President Luis Abinader, to take this indicator as a minimum floor to be able to make a real impact on people’s quality of life.
“This increase of three thousand pesos in the minimum wage for large companies in the private sector is not enough to pay for the basic basket of the lowest quintile, which today is around 25,215 pesos; but also, the average of the basic expenses of Dominican families, only in food, is higher than 35 thousand pesos per month”, indicated Horacio Lopez, member of the Political Directorate of the party. In a press release, he explained that the country has had sustained economic growth that should be reflected in wage increases.
While the economist and also a member of the Political Directorate of the party, Samuel Bonilla, considered “unacceptable that the government promotes a salary increase in the private sector and maintains public servants with a miserable salary.”
He also called for an increase in wages in the free zone and tourism sectors, two of the most important in the Dominican economy.
He reminded the government that an effective and possible measure is to apply the adjustment for inflation to the tax rate paid by individuals with formal employment through their salaries, an adjustment that has not been carried out for six years as ordered by the Tax Code, as proposed by the party deputy, José Horacio Rodríguez. “If there is a real interest in improving salaries, we hope that this proposal will not be left out again in the discussion of the General State Budget for 2024,” said Bonilla.