For 55 weeks now, the Government headed by President Luis Abinader decided to maintain fuel prices unchanged in the Dominican Republic; undoubtedly a responsible, serious and empathetic action.
The subsidy plan proposed in the national palace in March 2022, has not only been successful given the effectiveness of the results that it has brought with it, but it has been weighted in very favorable terms as inflation reduction tool and in the process of consequences, a retaining wall that has prevented the overflow of ungovernability that accuses almost all of Latin America.
It is enough to review the official information from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, which highlights the main role played by the fuel subsidyas a palliative method of inflation, to understand that the measure provided was correct.
Ultimately, the government sees the large sums that have been allocated to subsidize hydrocarbons as an investment in competitiveness, social peace, as well as being a solid vector for attracting foreign capital.
Apart from the pretense of some actors from the past, whose appeal to weak support materials, covered in pseudo-academic rigor that reveals frivolous claims, what is incontrovertible is that the Dominican government announces subsidies for petroleum derivatives, easily verifiable by two mechanisms, being the first of them, the weighting of the methodology for calculating the sale to the public of the precious asset and the second, based on the review and verification of payments through deliveries, which week after week, without delays or delays, this management carries out by concept of compensation of the import parity price to Refidomsa, Total, Gulfstream, Esso, Coastal, Morini and AES, companies that import fuels in our country.
Today, our government exhibits in terms of planning, substantial advances in these areas, unlike in the recent past. The budget forecasts, the flawless amortization of the commitments assumed, as well as the bill deposited in Congress more than a year ago, which seeks to transform, not patch up, the hydrocarbons sector in our country, confirm my statement.
The responsible and academically logical thing would undoubtedly be to talk about the crude oil price index applicable to almost the entire region, which, as an important part of the country already knows, is the West Texas Intermediate (WTI).
Additionally, for the cost of gasoline and diesel, it would seem elementary ignorance, to introduce into the argumentation of price formation, foreign variables to the applicable norm. Perhaps we now want to invent calculation methods with an enthusiastic attitude and little regulatory depth.
What is the convenience of talking about indices that do not have applicability for the construction of prices in our country and obviate what our norm clearly indicates for such purposes, as is the case of the FOB value of liquid fuels and its reference, the Platts USGC Waterborne?
In the case of freight, it seems that exactly the same thing happens; Beyond manual Manichaeism, what would be the convenience of arguing and bringing up global freight rates, biasing what our regulatory framework indicates in the particular case, that of the WorldScale publication. I don’t necessarily share it, but non-observance leads many to think that, once the lack of training has been ruled out, manipulation is free in this case.
Perhaps they are not empty arguments, but what I am sure of is that they are not part of the elements of the price calculation methodology and therefore, any exercise that is based on advantageously erroneous premises can entertain, but not contribute. a lot.
The search for the demerit of efforts that are promoted from the government and that are quantified in around 1,000 million dollars, from August 2020 to date, whose primary objective is to benefit the pocket of Dominicans, of everyone, not of a small group, requires more than pettiness. It is a matter of facts, not claims.
Our nation, our citizens expect propaedeutic contributions from all coasts, not short-term derivations with rentier pigment. It is obvious that The people expect more from their political class.
While those responsible for the issue in question in this administration are eagerly engaged in seeking constant solutions to the dynamics of the attacks generated by the international energy market, with its obvious consequences for the domestic market, What some former officials do is obliquely, whether with interest or not, accuse fuel importers by consequences of being part of a false payment scheme from the Dominican State, since the fuel subsidy is a farce or invention of the government, the emoluments destined to the compensation of the import parity price run the same fate, especially if the consequence of an improper payment continues to be that of a lifetime, an enrichment without cause.
The thirst for return justifies for a few, the tool of the ruse, but trying to spit on the public and private sectors from a simulated oracle of Delphi, fabricating esoteric scenarios of the hydrocarbon market, just for political pretense seems unfortunate tremendousism and undoubtedly reveals leadership immature.