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06 November 2009
Foreign debt increases 2.7% with new loans
Manuel Labrado and Vicente Bengoa after signing the loan agreement
SANTO DOMINGO. With the amount of loans that the government is signing, the foreign debt will increase by 2.7%, going from 15.8% of GDP in 2009 to 18.5% in 2010.
The foreign debt is currently at US$7.195 billion as of September. In 2007, it was US6.555 billion and increased to US$7.237 billion last year.
Vicente Bengoa, the Minister of Hacienda, referring to the country's indebtedness, said only five nations in Lat in America will have a foreign debt less than the Dominican Republic, and 17will have larger debts.
A list of 23 countries in the region that was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America (Cepal) shows that there are only four countries with less foreign debt than the Dominican Republic. These are Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago, while the other 18 nations have a higher debt than the DR.
Bengoa got in front of the worries of the business sector regarding the high foreign indebtedness that the country has fallen into these past few years.
Bengoa, in downplaying these worries, said that there are four countries whose debt is three times that of the country, eight that has twice the debt and six that have more debt, citing Chile, whose debt is at 38.2% of its GDP and in the DR it is at 15.8%.
The official said that he does not understand the opposition parties when they say that the public debt, that includes the quasi-fiscal deficit, as if it were the foreign debt that is something else entirely.
He said that this quasi-fiscal deficit that the Central Bank has today was not the product of other administrations.
He assured the reporters that regarding the foreign debt, from the point of view of its size, that is very inferior to that of other countries in the region and compatible with the fiscal sustainability of the government.
Loan
The representative of the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) in the country, Manuel Labrado, signed a loan deal with the Minister of Hacienda for US$500 million, of which US$300 million will be received this year and US$200 million in 2010.
The resources are to support the budget and were contemplated in this year's budget, and will allow for planned-for expenses to be complied with.
Bengoa said he would be going to Washington in two weeks to sign another loan package for US$300 million that would support the budget.
Labrado said that the object of the loan is to protect the social programs and the financing of public policies as well as the maintenance of economic stability and the focusing of the electricity subsidy.
The foreign debt is currently at US$7.195 billion as of September. In 2007, it was US6.555 billion and increased to US$7.237 billion last year.
Vicente Bengoa, the Minister of Hacienda, referring to the country's indebtedness, said only five nations in Lat in America will have a foreign debt less than the Dominican Republic, and 17will have larger debts.
A list of 23 countries in the region that was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America (Cepal) shows that there are only four countries with less foreign debt than the Dominican Republic. These are Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago, while the other 18 nations have a higher debt than the DR.
Bengoa got in front of the worries of the business sector regarding the high foreign indebtedness that the country has fallen into these past few years.
Bengoa, in downplaying these worries, said that there are four countries whose debt is three times that of the country, eight that has twice the debt and six that have more debt, citing Chile, whose debt is at 38.2% of its GDP and in the DR it is at 15.8%.
The official said that he does not understand the opposition parties when they say that the public debt, that includes the quasi-fiscal deficit, as if it were the foreign debt that is something else entirely.
He said that this quasi-fiscal deficit that the Central Bank has today was not the product of other administrations.
He assured the reporters that regarding the foreign debt, from the point of view of its size, that is very inferior to that of other countries in the region and compatible with the fiscal sustainability of the government.
Loan
The representative of the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) in the country, Manuel Labrado, signed a loan deal with the Minister of Hacienda for US$500 million, of which US$300 million will be received this year and US$200 million in 2010.
The resources are to support the budget and were contemplated in this year's budget, and will allow for planned-for expenses to be complied with.
Bengoa said he would be going to Washington in two weeks to sign another loan package for US$300 million that would support the budget.
Labrado said that the object of the loan is to protect the social programs and the financing of public policies as well as the maintenance of economic stability and the focusing of the electricity subsidy.
De Diario Libre
