The Dominican Government described the first meeting with representatives of business associations as “positive”, with the aim of reaching a national consensus in the face of the complex international scenario arising from the crisis in Iran.
After taking about an hour, the Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, pointed out that during the meeting the businessmen and the Government exchanged ideas and proposals on how to ensure that the economic growth expectations that the country has are maintained, while also managing to mitigate the effects of this crisis as much as possible.
“This is a real, true crisis, known to everyone and the effects are the least those classes, those people who most need everyone’s help,” Paliza exclaimed.
For his part, the Minister of Finance and Economy, Magín Díaz, indicated that as the other meetings and meetings are staged, the Government will announce different measures, in search of mitigating the effects of the war carried out in the Middle East.
“Our objective from the first moment this crisis broke out has been to maintain economic stability, as well as maintain social stability, protect the most vulnerable groups of the population, try to cushion the impact that this is going to have on food prices, especially on the basic basket and, to the extent possible, try to ensure that the increase in expenses on subsidies comes from reallocating other current expenses and not lowering public investment,” Díaz explained.
“The Government cannot alone”
The Minister of Finance and Economy stressed that the Government “cannot do it alone” and that is why they are holding this series of meetings to achieve a national consensus.
“The issue is that this is a global crisis that is having repercussions in most countries. We are oil importers. The government cannot do it alone and neither can the business and productive sector. We have to come out together. That is why we have meetings, as I said, this is the first of many,” Díaz explained.
Paliza indicated that the Government told the business associations that they are in a process of reorienting public spending in search of meeting the expectations raised.
“In this meeting, from the government’s point of view, what we can highlight most is that the government is in a process of reorienting its spending, of refocusing its capabilities without ever putting at risk the budget estimates we have for capital investment, which should even increase,” said Paliza.
No details
The official did not give details regarding the proposals presented by the businessmen during the meeting, however, he “congratulated” them for contributing “valuable ideas.”
“I want to congratulate and celebrate the fact that the sectors invited today have come with a pool of ideas and proposals that we will work with them to achieve things,” said Paliza.
The meeting was actively attended by representatives of the National Council of Private Enterprise (Conep), the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), the Association of Merchants and Industrialists (ACIS), the Association of Industrialists of the Northern Region (AIREN), the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), the Dominican Agribusiness Board (JAD) and the Association of Housing Builders and Developers (Acoprovi).
Also from the National Organization of Commercial Companies (ONEC), the Dominican Association of Exporters (Adoexpo), the Dominican Association of Free Zones (Adozona) and the National Association of Herrera Companies and Industries (Aneih), as well as representatives of the Dominican Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Codopyme) and the Dominican Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedocámaras).
