On Monday, November 8, 2008, Leonel Fernandez, president of the Dominican Republic, met with representatives of the IMF. During the exchange, Dominique Strauss Khan, director of the agency, said the country had so far no need for IMF’s assistance. According to the country’s own projections the Dominican Republic is in good condition to cope with the effects of the crisis. However, the IMF has offered its support to the Dominican Republic if the need was felt in the coming months. Following this meeting, the President made a televised address on the national network. In order to cope with the global crisis and its impact on the country, Leonel Fernandez has proposed a series of measures. His government wants to work hard on the social front, and will submit to Congress a proposal to use pension funds for the construction of housing for workers and families with low income, and the development of various infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the president wants to control excessive public spending and achieve savings. The government will issue international tenders for infrastructure projects (highway, subway, train ...) to generate jobs. He mentioned again that several tourist projects are planned that will create a lot of jobs, mostly on the south and east coast. He believes that tourism growth and the entry of foreign currency in the country should be higher in 2009 than in 2008, while not reaching the records of previous years. He called for limiting domestic inflation to 7%, in the 2009 budget.
The immigration service fees are on the rise according to the time spent on the Dominican territory: a person residing more than a year in the Dominican Republic has to pay U.S. $ 71.43 * / 52 € (2 500 pesos). For more information on fees, please visit the official Dominican Migration Service: www.migracion.gov.do/tarifas / vextranjeria.htm * $ 1 = 35 pesos / € 1 = 48 pesos to 23 December
According to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), the Dominican Republic is ranked at 33rd place out of 149 countries. The investigation "centers on two broad environmental protection objectives: reducing environmental stresses on human health, and promoting ecosystem vitality and sound natural resource management." The list is based on the study of 25 indicators divided into 6 categories: environmental health, air pollution, water resources, biodiversity and habitat, productive natural resources, climate change. Switzerland is first on the list, followed by the three Nordic countries are Norway, Sweden and Finland, France is in 10th place, Canada 12th, Germany 13th place and 14th in UK place. The Dominican Republic shows her concern about environment, while its neighbor Haiti is in 119th place. The Index provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decisionmaking onto firmer analytic foundations.
For more information: http://epi.yale.edu/