SANTO DOMINGO.- Eliseo Cristopher, president of COPYMECON, the Dominican Confederation of Micro, Small and Medium Construction Companies, stated yesterday that the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) and the Monetary Board have released billions through the legal reserve requirement and placed them in financial intermediation entities to provide soft loans to productive sectors of the country, but small construction companies have not been able to access them.
In that regard, he asked the country's financial intermediation entities to grant soft loans to that sector, since, as he specified, the Central Bank has the autonomy to take that action.
He added that for several years he has been requesting that the Central Bank and the Monetary Board allocate a special portion of the released legal reserve to benefit construction SMEs and that financial intermediation entities grant them financing, since, to date, small and medium-sized enterprises have not benefited due to financial regulations.
He suggested that financial intermediation entities relax their requirements to allow the participation of small businesses.
COPYMECON emphasized that the construction MSME sector is striving to create actions aimed at promoting a more inclusive financial system, where everyone has opportunities in development plans, and that the government has created the legal mechanisms for this, but so far they have not applied them in favor of this sector.
He considered alarming the figures offered by the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) which indicate that the economic activity of construction was the one with the greatest drop during the period January-March 2023, with negative results of 3.5% compared to January-March 2022, when last year it only grew 0.6%.
“Therefore, we believe stronger support is needed for our recovery, injecting resources that will allow us to develop the projects already underway and those in the pipeline, specializing in the construction of low-cost housing, aimed at addressing the existing housing deficit throughout the country,” Cristopher commented.
He said that in previous statements, COPYMECON warned about the situation currently facing the country's construction sector, due to the increase in interest rates, a conservative attitude in public investment, and high prices for materials, "which, as the Central Bank points out, is unfavorable to the construction sector, forcing the readjustment of infrastructure project schedules in the first quarter of this year and generating negative figures.".
"The goal of promoting greater collaboration and opportunities for the construction MSME sector in the country would help improve the economy, as well as strengthen the institutional framework and link state institutions to promote projects that involve small and medium-sized construction companies in development initiatives," the leader said.
According to the president of COPYMECON, if SMEs were given opportunities and equal participation, it would yield great benefits to boost the development of all sectors and revitalize the financial system, thus avoiding the decline that has occurred this year.
Christopher said that statistically, small businesses have responsibly demonstrated their commitment, honoring their financial obligations, building with quality and on time, and fostering the dynamism and growth of the national economy.
