Although the sector experienced a growth of 6.3% for the period January-March 2022, the current situation, characterized by excessive increases in construction materials, is a cause for concern for its stakeholders and for buyers of new properties, many of whom will have to pay additional sums beyond those planned due to the imminent rise in housing prices.
SANTO DOMINGO. - Due to its job creation and impact on economic growth, the governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, assured yesterday that construction has always been a priority sector for the country.
Valdez Albizu, along with the board of directors of the Dominican Association of Housing Builders and Promoters (ACOPROVI), reviewed the impact of inflation and the increase in construction costs on the sector.
He recalled that the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) placed RD$215 billion through commercial banks, under interest rate conditions of 3% for the banks, with the guarantee of securities issued by the BCRD and by the Ministry of Finance, an unprecedented measure in the other central banks of Latin America.
Thanks to this, he said, over 93,000 loans were made available, which the productive sectors, households and SMEs were able to use to preserve their activities, not forgetting the boost it provided to the construction sector.
He stated that this behavior enabled the Dominican economy to recover faster than expected, with a remarkable growth of 12.3% for the year 2021, equivalent to an expansion of 4.7% compared to the level of real production in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
"The good performance has been maintained in the first quarter of this year with an accumulated growth of 6.1%, with a projection, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of a growth of 5.5% for 2022, positioning it as the third fastest-growing economy at the end of the year.
The governor highlighted that the economic relaunch was also favored by the vaccination campaign coordinated by the Vice President of the Government, Raquel Peña, and the improvement in the figures for visits in tourism, remittances, free zones and foreign direct investment (FDI), among other sectors.
During the meeting, the governor was accompanied by the manager, Ervin Novas Bello; the deputy general manager, Frank Montaño; the economic advisor to the Governor, Julio Andújar Scheker; the deputy manager of Regulation and Financial Stability, Ramón A. Rosario; and the director of the Regulation and Financial Stability department; Máximo Rodríguez.
The ACOPROVI delegation consisted of its president, Jorge Montalvo; first vice president, Erik Bueno Tejada; second vice president, Annerys Melendez; third vice president, Julisa Burgos; vice treasurer, Guido Rosario; first member, Santiago Colomé; advisor, Fermín Acosta; also present was Dino Campagna, director of the Dominican Chamber of Construction (CADOCON).
ACOPROVI
Jorge Montalvo, president of ACOPROVI, explained that there is a lot of interest in the sector to address the challenges posed by the climate of uncertainty the world is experiencing as a result of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which affects, among other things, the price of imported inputs for the sector.
He acknowledged the set of macroeconomic measures taken by the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) that allowed the construction sector to maintain its dynamism during the Covid-19 pandemic, and even achieve a higher level of dynamism than the pre-pandemic period.
He highlighted the strong resilience achieved by the construction sector, "thanks to an expansion policy that facilitated the completion and sale of projects," and noted that today there are over 35,000 homes on offer throughout the country, which represents 82% of the total currently under construction.
situation of the sector
Although the sector experienced a growth of 6.3% for the period January-March 2022, the current situation, characterized by excessive increases in construction materials, is a cause for concern for its stakeholders and for buyers of new properties, many of whom will have to pay additional sums beyond those planned due to the imminent rise in housing prices.
So far the Government has not taken any measures to stop the price increases, which will undoubtedly continue, supported by arguments such as the war between Russia and Ukraine and others that always tend to "support" price increases.
