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The Executive Branch has sent the budget for 2010 to Congress. The budget is for RD$379 billion, up from RD$328 billion for 2009. Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa and Budget Director Luis Hernandez submitted the budget to Senate president Reinaldo Pared Perez. For the government, this is a most likely a record early delivery of the budget to Congress for deliberations. The budget bill will now be studied by a commission made up of legislators from both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The budget allocates 72.6% to current expenditures and 27.4% to capital investments. The budget contemplates RD$263 million in tax collections and donations, and RD$115.9 million in credits. The budget contemplates donations for RD$4.1, and internal revenues for RD$258.9 billion, or 14.3% of the GDP. Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa said that the government estimates inflation in 2010 to be at 7.2% and an exchange rate of RD$37.5 to the US$1 with the price per barrel of petroleum at ...
As legislators prepare to discuss the 2010 budget, El Caribe journalist Hector Linares points out that the Dominican budget is always on a path of continuous growth. According to the writer, the DR budget will grow ten-fold between 2010 and 2020. And if the budget of 1990 is any indication, by 2020 the DR's budget will have grown 63-fold. Between 1990 and 1996, increases in the budget were slight, but since 1996 budget balloons have been more pronounced. The 1990 budget was for RD$6.7 billion, by 1996 it had grown to RD$24.7 billion, in 1997 it was RD$33 billion, while the 2010 budget is expected to be at RD$263 billion, according to El Caribe. While the government has been more efficient in generating revenue, especially through improved tax collections, a growing culture of clientelism, unrestrained public sector employment and benefits for government employees are prevalent in the use of revenues. Despite the bonanza in revenues, problems in key areas such as electricity, security, ...
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies have given priority to changing Law 176-07 to increase the number of city councilors for the National District and municipalities that will be elected in the May 2010 municipal election. The changes now increase city councilors to 5 for populations with up to 25,000 inhabitants, to 7 for municipalities with up to 50,000 inhabitants and to 9 for those with 75,000 and 11 for those with more than 100,000. Those with more than 100,000 can elect a city councilor for each increment of 50,000 and thereafter for each 25,000 increment. The Central Electoral Board (JCE) rejects the decision on the grounds that it will increase the government expenditures, in addition to inconveniencing the JCE in having to accommodate the increase in elected officials for the 2010 election.
The DR's financial system grew by 8.8% in 2009, with assets increasing from RD$597 billion to RD$649 billion, for an overall liquid increase of RD$52 billion. Bank Superintendent Haivanjoe NG Cortinas said that this is proof that the DR has overcome the problems caused by the international financial crisis and that there is renewed public confidence. He said that in the last year the private sector has had a credit participation of 86% while the government share has been of 14%. Of the total to the private sector, RD$229.7 billion was in loans to commerce sector, or 60% of the total RD$381 billion lent in 2009 from January to October. 22% of the total went to consumer loans or RD$85.1 billion and 17.3% to mortgage loans, as reported in Listin Diario. Ng Cortinas forecast an increase in borrowing now that interest rates are dropping.
The DR is signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Montreal Protocol that limit the use or importation of deadly pesticides and substances. Despite all this, the importation of several toxic substances persists. Hoy attributes the situation to a weak legal and judicial system and inadequate controls on the Haitian/Dominican border. For instance, bromothane (bromuro de metilo) is still being used to fumigate imported cargo shipments, according to the newspaper. A known carcinogen, the substance has been banned in the DR since 1991. Furosa is the only company that imports the substance. Another powerful herbicide, Paraquat, is consistently imported to the DR. Its users argue there is no other powerful alternative to use for flower crop fumigation. Hoy also reports that as of 2004 there have been reported cases on the use of lindane, a substance prohibited by the Stockholm Convention. Hoy reports that as recently as 2005 traces of DDT ...
