The governor of the Central Bank, Héctor Valdez Albizu, announced that “according to the latest BCRD estimates, inflation would enter the target range of 4% ± 1% at the end of this same Maysooner than expected.
The governor expressed that “this achievement would grant the necessary spaces for the Central Bank to adopt timely measures that contribute to relaunching growth during the rest of the year, preserving macroeconomic stability.”
When pronouncing the conference “Economic news & prospects 2023”during the annual lunch organized in Santiago de los Caballeros by the Association of Industrialists of the Northern Region, Inc. (AIREN), Valdez Albizu highlighted the dynamism of foreign exchange generating activitiesnoting that “tourism is being the spearhead of the economy, generating income of more than US$8.4 billion in 2022 with the arrival of 8.5 million non-resident visitors, of which 7.2 million arrived by air and 1.3 million in cruises”.
80% of cruise passengers
Referring to the Northern region, the governor indicated the importance of “during the year 2022 it received more than 1.1 million tourists through its airports and 80% of cruise passengers.
With respect to remittance flowsin the same year the arrival of almost US0 billion throughout the national territory, of which 40% were destined for the Cibao. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) exceeded US$4 billion last year, of which close to US$1 billion went to projects located in this area”.
In this context of high foreign exchange generation and to avoid an abrupt appreciation of the Dominican peso that harms the competitiveness of the activities of the external sector, The Central Bank has been buying significant amounts of dollars from financial intermediaries through auctions on its electronic platform.
Valdez Albizu explained in this regard that “during 2022, the Central Bank made net purchases of foreign currency for some US$600 million, which has contributed to the strengthening of international reserves that are located around US6,300 million.” To the date”.
President of the AIREN
Prior to the governor’s conference, the president of AIREN, Juan Ventura, expressed in his welcoming remarks that the Cibao constitutes “an economy and a region that drives prosperity”as demonstrated by the results of the recent ‘Impact Study of the work of the Family Business Development Center’, created by AIREN, in strengthening family businesses in the Dominican Republic”.
Ventura highlighted that, according to said study, the average employment went from 53 jobs per protocolized companies to 95 jobs per company, for a growth of 79%; 91.4% have a well-defined and documented organizational structure; 42.9% of these companies have started new businesses in the period; and 91.4% have made new investments in technology/systems, new equipment, infrastructure, after signing the protocol; among other contributions.
In addition, he pointed out that the Central Bank has promoted solid strategies that are allowing us to overcome the difficult moments experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the War in Russia and Ukraine, and other external factors that have weighed heavily on our economy.
“There is nothing more precious to us, the industrialists, than macroeconomic stability and governability, essential conditions for investments to prosper,” he stated. He considered that “the macroeconomic stability that has been threatened by inflation -with multiple external and some internal order factors- and the policies of the Central Bank, along with other government decisions, have managed to put us on the right path.”
Economic importance
In his conference, Governor Valdez Albizu pointed out that “the Central Bank has always recognized the contribution of the Northern region to the growth of the nation, and for this reason, created in 2017 the Division of Regional Studies and Statistics, based in the Office Region of Santiago”.
Valdez Albizu indicated that “the investigations carried out indicate that the fourteen provinces of this geographical enclave contribute between 32% and 38% of the national economic activity.”
Leadership
Valdez Albizu said that the North region has a leading role in various agricultural products that have positioned themselves as leaders in international markets.
Production
The Cibao concentrates 77% of the area planted with cocoa and more than 90% of the national production of tobacco for cigarettes.
2016
The North region stands out in the free zone sector, concentrating more than half of the country’s industrial parks, he added.
