Banreservas loans to the free zones sector exceeded RD$7,185 million pesos in the third quarter of this year and the financial institution foresees these financings will increase to RD$9,650 million by the end of 2022.
General Manager of Banreservas, Samuel Pereyra, explained that the financing granted increased by RD$ 5,766 million, which translates into a year-on-year variation of 25.6%, higher than its historical average of 14%.
He explained that that institution also has a portfolio of deposits in that sector worth more than RD $ 2,700 million, with expectations of increasing to above RD $ 3,920 million at the end of this year.
“In recent years Banreservas has granted around 21.3% of the financing that has been allocated to these companies, and our portfolio of loans to the sector maintains a very good performance, with a delinquency rate of 0.10% versus the 0.14% average of the other banks,” he said during the second discussion entitled “Banreservas’ Support to the productive sectors”.
Pereyra believes “these indicators demonstrate the encouraging results of the efforts made and our interest in continuing to support free zones, as an important source of jobs and their decisive impact on the economic and sustainable development of our nation.”
The meeting, which was held at the Banreservas Club in Santo Domingo, was attended by Victor Bisonó, Minister of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs; Daniel Liranzo, Executive Director of the Free Export Zones Council; Luis José Bonilla, president of the Dominican Association of Free Zones (ADOZONA); José Ulises Rodríguez, CEO of Proindustria; and Arazaty Féliz, from the Proindustria Financial Department.
Minister Bisonó chaired the presentation “Perspective and growth of free zones in the Dominican Republic”, which provided significant data on industrial parks, the companies that comprise them, the number of jobs they create, export free zones and their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.
The second discussion in the series entitled “Banreservas’ Contributions to the Productive Sectors” dealt with free zones as the main focus of attracting foreign investment and the support granted by the financial sector.
Relevance of free zones
Overall, loans from the financial system to free zones have shown a visible upward trend, with an approximate year-on-year growth of 12.8%. by the end of June of this year, loans increased by RD$20,270 million, which in relative terms corresponds to 19.5%.
According to the National Council of Export Free Zones, the Dominican Republic is now in sixth place among Latin American and Caribbean countries in that line, due to the continuous movement of more than 90 weekly vessels and 280 daily flights.
21% of the accumulated investment is due to local investors, while the remaining 79% came from foreign investors (46% of this capital comes from the United States).
As for investment by type of activity, 26.8% was allocated to medical and pharmaceutical products; 21.8% to companies dedicated to tobacco and its derivatives, and 12.5% to companies in the clothing and textiles field. The discussion was attended by businessmen from free zones, officials from the economic area and executives from Banreservas.
Source:
El Nuevo Diario
