In the midst of the threat of a world famine and the international price crisis, President Luis Abinader highlighted the solidity which, in his opinion, country’s agriculture boasts, despite being affected by the pandemic, it was helped with government subsidies.
By participating in the Presidential Panel of Latin America with Iván Duque, from Colombia; Rodrigo Chaves, from Costa Rica and the vice president of Peru, Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, in Davos, Switzerland, the Dominican head of state stressed that despite all this the Dominican Republic grew economically by 6.1%, in the first quarter of this 2022.
Referring to inflation, Abinader said that they have had to make special financing to the agricultural sector and stressed that for the first time in 20 years they have not had to import rice, in addition to the fact that there is an overproduction of bananas and a record production of chicken.
He pointed out that after Russia’s war with Ukraine, with the increase in raw materials, the government has had to adopt measures so that the population is not affected by fuel increases. He also took the opportunity to recall the subsidies on maize, wheat and fertilizers.
Preparation
The President said his administration is on a day to day basis because of the constant changes the world is experiencing, without any long term forecasts.
He explained that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic the country was prepared not only in terms of social aid, but also, within a month of taking office the Government began to give general medical insurance from the national public health service to 2.4 million uninsured Dominicans.
“Today 98% of Dominicans have their basic health insurance and that was very important also for the recovery in terms of health and at the same time we have doubled, both in quantity, in terms of the direct economic contribution and also the number of people who are given direct help, especially mothers at risk,” she said.
Production and generation
During his speech, the Dominican leader explained that the Dominican Republic has a very diverse matrix of production and generation of foreign exchange and jobs, which he described as very positive.
In terms of foreign exchange generation, he explained, the country has free zones, traditional exports and remittances.
On that subject, he said that the generation of foreign exchange constitutes a very important boost to the construction sector, while in the free zones “Nearshoring” and “Friendshoring”, have been greatly favored through a great campaign and opening to these new companies.
He revealed that the countrys free zones already export US$ 1,800 million in hi tech medical devices alone, apart from the manufacturing free zones, fabrics, clothes and other products in the technological part.
In his presentation, President Abinader also drew attention to the ecological issue since Latin American countries are the ones that have polluted the world the least due to the low amount of large industrial development.
RD is the country that recovered the most tourism
The Dominican president reiterated that the Dominican Republic was the country that recovered the most in tourism in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, which according to the World Tourism Organization, deserved recognition to the country for the measures adopted and placed the nation as the number one in recovering this sector. On the subject, he spoke about the benefits that the country has for the enjoyment of tourists.
Source:
El Caribe
