The president of the Dominican Federation of Merchants, Iván de Jesús García, warned that the increases that the Central Bank is adopting in its monetary policy are already having an impact on the productive sectors, alleging that commercial banks are charging interest rates of up to 16 %.
“The reality is that banks are charging us right now, we have to forget about those rates of 6, 8 and 10%, that no longer exists, we are talking about rates that, people who are well attached to a bank that they lend him the money from his own checking account, perhaps he can get between 12 and 14, but then normal loans are at 16 percent,” he explained.
“Now, we understand that, with a lower rate than the one we are applying in the Dominican Republic, growth would be much faster and more sustainable, because in most of the world’s central banks it has not reached 3%, and here, practically , we have tripled it”, he detailed.
He described the measures of the Central Bank as conservative, to contain inflation, since it has “a high exogenous component, not endogenous”, indicating that it is necessary to review internal prices in the Dominican Republic, and what is the reality of our country, so as not to step on the bandwagon of developing our economy.
On the effects of the Zero Rate law promoted by the Government to face inflation, the business leader said that its results have been “highly positive” in achieving the desired effects, and asks the president to ask Congress to extend it for six more months.