The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, said that this official institution is in charge of estimating economic growth and other macroeconomic variables, and as such presents, the results rigorously applying the guidelines established in the international manuals.
Valdez Albizu also indicated that the BCRD remains in a process of updating and continuous improvement of the statistical products whose publication is under its responsibility, remaining at the forefront and always following the latest provisions in force on the matter.
RD economy has exceeded growth expectations
Valdez Albizu referred in those terms to respond to the recent statements by the former President of the Republic, Leonel Fernández, who indicated that the recovery experienced is due to a statistical rebound and not to a real reactivation of economic activities.
In addition, he argued about a supposed statistical manipulation that does not reflect what really happens in Dominican homes.
Performance
Economy behavior
Semi-annual comparison
Referring to the comparison of the economic performance of the January-June 2021 semester with the same period of 2019, the governor specified that the level of economic activity turns out to be 3.7% higher. “This result is extremely remarkable and should be appreciated as a reliable example of the resilience of the Dominican economy, which once again shows that it knows how to get up from periods of crisis to regain its position of regional leadership in terms of growth,” he said. he.
At regional level
Likewise, he expressed that very few countries in the region would be recovering their pre-COVID-19 activity levels in just twelve months, as would be the case of the Dominican Republic.
In this regard, the governor pointed out that the BCRD has received validation and recognition from the competent bodies that dictate the conceptual and methodological guidelines for the compilation of statistics, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), International Organization of Labor (ILO), among others ”.
Regarding the statement made that the recovery that the Dominican economy is currently exhibiting constitutes a statistical rebound, he recalled that “the Central Bank has held at least three press conferences in which it has presented comparison exercises with respect to the pre-pandemic period, following the best international practices and being a pioneer in carrying out this type of analysis.
This is so, with the aim of properly isolating the statistical effect that the health crisis caused by altering the comparison base in 2020, avoiding misinterpretations and better appreciate the magnitude of the economic recovery ”.
He indicated that the Dominican economy has exceeded growth expectations, accumulating an increase in GDP in real terms of 13.3% in January-June 2021, a result that has allowed the year-on-year growth prospects to be revised upwards at the end of 2021, which would be in double digits. , that is, 10% or more.
“In effect, using the updated growth forecast, the level of real GDP at the end of 2021 would be higher than that of 2019 (pre-pandemic) by approximately 3.0%, ten times more than the 0.3% indicated by the former president, which constitutes a real feat in the face of a health crisis of historic magnitude, ”he said.
He urged the country to maintain an optimistic view of the economy, trusting that we are on the right path to recovery, due to the fact that the greatest efforts are being made to offer certainty to private agents in an environment of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
Source:
Hoy
