Hotels, bars and restaurants grew 31.2%, health (11.3%), transport and storage (7.1%), commerce (6.5%) and financial services (5.8%)
The Dominican economy grew 5.5% from January to August of this year, mainly due to the increase in the service sectors, mainly hospitality, industries, free zone activity, local manufacturing and construction.
The Central Bank released the results of the Economic Activity Monthly Indicator (IMAE) showing a cumulative year-on-year variation of 5.5% the first eight months of this year, and an increase of 5.4% compared to August last year. The notable incidence of services as a whole stands out, accounting for approximately 60% of the total economy with a cumulative year-on-year variation of 7.5%.
The performance of hotels, bars and restaurants (31.2%), health (11.3%), other service activities (9.1%), public administration (7.8%), transport and storage (7.1%), commerce (6.5%) and financial services (5.8%) stood out. Regarding industries, the activity of free zones grew 7.0%, local manufacturing 4.4% and construction 2.7%; while agriculture grew 3.4% during that period. Showing economic dynamism, private credit in national currency was growing above 14% year-on-year at the end of September, similar to the expansion of nominal GDP. And total private loans in foreign currency registered a year-on-year variation of 16.5% in that period.
Likewise, the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT) for April – June 2022 showed the total number of employed people (formal and informal) reached 4,702,017 workers. There was an increase of 169,309 net employed, equivalent to a growth of 3.7%, compared to the second quarter of 2021
The open unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of unemployed people who are actively looking for work, registered a notable reduction from 8.0% in January-March 2021 to 5.2% in April-June 2022.
On another note, exports in January and August were US$9,422.9 million, showing a growth of 15.4%, while the month of August 2022 registered a value of US$1,223.7 million, increasing US$137.2 million (12.6%) in year-on-year terms.
Source:
Hoy
