Forbes Central America
The governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), Héctor Valdez Albizu, explained to representatives of Bank of America the key elements that incentivize investment in the country, which, according to President Luis Abinader in his accountability speech in 2022, foreign direct investment alone exceeded 3.95 billion dollars (USD) and increased by around 27%.
Valdez Albizu presented executives of that international entity with a broad vision of the key elements that define the Dominican economic dynamism, the main aspects of the Central Bank's macroeconomic policy, and the existing investment scenarios, indicating that "there are opportunities in a wide variety of areas that can be taken advantage of now.".
These elements are the evolution of growth that “despite a complex international outlook, the Dominican Republic is expected to achieve a growth of between 4.0% – 4.5% in 2023.
Valdez Albizu indicated that the Dominican Republic would remain one of the fastest-growing countries in Latin America. “This performance would be supported by the resilience of its productive sectors and a well-diversified economic structure, with tourism being a particularly strong driver.”.
The governor highlighted that the signs of stability and reliability for investments in the Dominican Republic are reflected in a multitude of data that demonstrate the dynamism of the economy.
Valdez Albizu highlighted the reduction in the open unemployment rate, which is defined as the percentage of unemployed people who are actively seeking work, which contracted by 3.2 percentage points, from 8.0% recorded in January-March 2021 to 4.8% in October-December 2022.
He also noted the control of inflation, which, thanks to restrictive monetary measures and the government's subsidy policy, managed to moderate year-on-year inflation from a peak of 9.64% in April 2022 to 7.24% in January 2023.
Regarding the behavior of the exchange rate, Valdez Albizu explained that in the middle of last year the exchange rate appreciated by up to 7% due to the enormous flows of foreign currency that came into the economy.
"We do not foresee major pressures in the foreign exchange market this year as long as foreign currency generators continue to perform well," he noted.
The governor emphasized that “the Dominican Republic is a safe bet, given the remarkable resilience of its economy and the strength of its macroeconomic fundamentals, factors that, together with social peace and legal security, would keep our country an attractive destination for foreign investment.”.
