Governor Héctor Valdez Albizu with the delegation. (Photo: External source).
SANTO DOMINGO.- The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, met with an executive delegation from CITI Bank, headed by Carolina Juan, head of Corporate Banking for Latin America, in which he offered a perspective on the economic and foreign investment trends in the Dominican Republic, thus establishing it as an attractive focus for foreign capital.
The governor highlighted that “the Dominican economy generated foreign exchange of approximately US$43.8 billion during 2024, and it is projected that in 2025 it will generate foreign exchange of around US$45.9 billion. In fact, between January and April 2025, remittances received reached US$3.9174 billion, increasing 12.1% compared to the same period of the previous year.”.
Also regarding foreign exchange earnings, Valdez Albizu noted that “tourism revenues in 2024 totaled US$10,972.4 million, resulting from the arrival of 11.2 million visitors. As for the free trade zones, their exports reached US$8,425.9 million, with medical and surgical equipment and tobacco products being the most prominent.”.
Valdez Albizu indicated that “the existing climate of stability is ideal for investment in the country, also reflected in the fact that financial intermediation activity experienced a notable year-on-year increase of 9.6% in January-April 2025, with this result influenced by the 10.8% expansion of credit granted to the private sector in national and foreign currency, equivalent to an additional RD$228 billion compared to April 2024.”.
For her part, Ms. Carolina Juan stated that, given the excellent economic indicators and the existing climate of stability and investment in the Dominican Republic, CITI Bank plans to organize working meetings between international investors and Dominican authorities in order to channel investment resources into different sectors.
Valdez Albizu added that “multiple banks at the close of April 2025 achieved a return on assets (ROA) of 2.8%, while the return on equity (ROE) was 24.9%, guaranteeing sufficient capital generation to achieve a regulatory solvency of 16.0%, as of February 2025, higher than the 10% minimum required by the Monetary and Financial Law.”.
During the meeting held at the BCRD headquarters, Carolina Juan was accompanied by CITI Bank executives Rocío Velarde and María Guerra.
Accompanying the governor were the manager, Ervin Novas Bello; the deputy manager of Monetary, Exchange and Financial Policies, Joel Tejeda; the economic advisor to the Governor, Julio Andújar; and the deputy manager of Monetary Programming and Economic Studies, Joel González.
