At the end of last year, this sector had 75 parks in operation and 692 companies, generating 168,200 direct jobs and exports for US $ 5,898.1 million.
Santo Domingo, RD. At the end of 2020, the accumulated investment of free zone companies amounted to US$5,189 million, showing a relative growth of 1.6% compared to 2019, according to last year’s Statistical Report of the National Council of Export Free Zones (CNZFE).
The document that shows all the statistics of the free zones during 2020, highlights that the country with the highest investment in free zones in the United States with 37.1% (US$1,926.1 million); it is followed by the Dominican Republic with 20.2% (US$1,049.1 million); United Kingdom with 7.5% (US$387.9 million); Germany with 6.4% (US$334.5 million): Canada with 4.3% (US$224.2 million) and the remaining 24.5% is distributed among 41 countries (US$1,267 million).
The report that was presented by the CNZFE together with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Mipymes (MICM), indicates that with respect to the economic activities that concentrate the highest volume in accumulated investment in the free trade zone sector, Medical and Pharmaceutical Products stand out (27.9% ), Tobacco and its Derivatives (22.0%), Apparel and Textiles (12.8%), Services (8.1%), Agroindustrial Products (6.1%), Plastic Articles (3.4%), Alcohol and Alcoholic Beverages (2.8%) and Footwear and its Components (2.5%).
Jobs generated
The CNZFE reflects that during 2020, the sector continued to be one of the sectors that generate the greatest number of direct jobs in the Dominican economy so that despite the economic crisis generated by COVID-19 and the confinement, the areas Free
trade zones were able to preserve about 96% of the jobs with which it ended in 2019. In 2020, the free zones reached the figure of 168,200 jobs, a decrease of only 4.7% compared to 2019, when the figure rose to a total of 176,555 jobs.
In addition, the largest number of jobs corresponds to the activity of Tobacco and its Derivatives with 36,063 positions; Apparel and Textiles with a total of 31,273; Services with 29,554. These are followed by Medical and Pharmaceutical Products with 26,313, Electrical and Electronic Products with 11,427, and Footwear and their Components with 6,754. The rest of the jobs were generated by other subsectors.
Parks and companies
The CNZFE Statistical Report, together with the MICM, reveals that the year 2020 ended with a total of 75 parks in operation, remaining unchanged with respect to 2019, of which 50.7% are concentrated in the North region, 22.7% % in the National District and Santo Domingo province, 17.3% in the South region and the remaining 9.3% in the East region.
Regarding the number of companies, 2020 culminated with 692 companies in operation, of which 23.4% are concentrated in Services, 14.3% in Tobacco and its Derivatives, 12.6% in Apparel and Textiles, 7.8% in Products Agroindustrial, and the rest deals with other activities such as Medical and Pharmaceutical Products, Marketing, Cardboard, Printed matter, and Stationery and more.
In addition, last year 39 new companies were approved, which project to create 4,075 direct jobs, make investments for US$64.9 million, and generate foreign exchange for US$39.1 million.
Exports and local expenditures
In 2020, exports from the free zones reached the sum of US $ 5,898.1 million, which shows a decrease of only 5.6% compared to the previous year. This figure shows the consistency of the sector in the midst of the worst recession in the global economy since the Second World War, and in the midst of a drop in regional GDP of around 7%.
Exports of Medical and Pharmaceutical Products represented 30.7% of the total amount; It is followed by Electrical Products with 18.7%, Tobacco and its Derivatives with 15.2%, Apparel and Textiles with 11.7%, Jewelry with 7.3% and Footwear and its Components with 3.4%.
Regarding local expenses, the report adds that last year amounted to US$1,580.1 million.
A resilient sector
The Minister of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs, Víctor -Ito- Bisonó, highlighted that these results show that free zones have been able to turn challenges into opportunities, consolidating themselves as a key sector to accelerate the economic recovery process in which it has been shipped the country since the end of last year.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the CNZFE, Daniel Liranzo, urged that these results be analyzed since they constitute a vision that in the broad participation, initiatives of highly effective solutions to the achievement of goals are generated.
Source:
CNZFE Communications
