SANTO DOMINGO – The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, Héctor Valdez Albizu, stated that 2023 is a year of challenges because, after the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the inflationary impact associated with the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the world faces new turbulence such as the financial crisis, although he maintains that these consequences do not affect the country.
In a press release, the Central Bank highlights the participation of Governor Valdez Albizu in the 297th Meeting of the Central American Monetary Council (CMCA), held in a hybrid format on March 23 and 24, where the presidents of the central banks of the Central American region met, as well as international experts from the member countries of the council.
The US Federal Reserve and the central banks of Europe, Canada, England, Japan, and Switzerland coordinated to make new dollar credit lines available to the financial market to address the banking uncertainty triggered by the collapse of two US banks, Silicon Valley and Signature.
The regulatory body specified that mergers and acquisitions, capital injections, and ultimately, coordinated action between central banks also took place.
The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) indicated that the governor highlighted the importance of the meetings, which constitute a space for reflection on international issues and their possible implications in the macroeconomic context, as well as a space to sustain an exchange of experiences and actions to be undertaken in order to maintain price stability and economic growth in the region.
The welcoming remarks were delivered by Ovidio Reyes Ramírez, president of the Central Bank of Nicaragua, in his capacity as host of this meeting, and by Valdez Albizu, governor of the Central Bank and president of the CMCA.
The event provided each central bank with the opportunity to present the current macroeconomic context and its short-term outlook. In doing so, they considered the evolution of gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, national and international financial conditions, and the current international environment.
During the meeting, the new authorities of the Secretariat of the Central American Monetary Council (Secmca) were sworn in, in the persons of Odalis Marte Alevante and Joaquín Pinto Medrado, to the positions of secretary and undersecretary of the organization for the period 2023-2027.
Also discussed were topics of interest, such as the presentation by Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov, regional resident representative for Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who analyzed the international macroeconomic context and its impact on the economies of the countries in the region.
In particular, the authorities emphasized external inflationary pressures and the monetary policy measures taken by each of the central banks in the region to address them, without significantly affecting economic growth.
During the meetings, a dialogue was held to exchange experiences and concerns about the international economic outlook with the representatives of the IMF, Afonso Bevilaqua, IMF Executive Director for Brazil, and Alfonso Guerra de la Luna, IMF Executive Director for Spain, giving the CMCA member countries space to share their considerations and present queries.
