The Government has not responded to the proposal from the Dominican Association of Housing Builders and Promoters (ACOPROVI), the Association of Housing Promoters and Builders of Cibao (APROCOVICI) and the Dominican Chamber of Construction (CADOCON), who suggested several measures last April with the aim of preserving the right of more Dominicans to access decent housing.
SANTO DOMINGO– The Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE) registered a 4.6% growth for the construction sector during the first four months of this year. Other sectors contributing to the growth included hotels, bars, and restaurants (39.9%), other service activities (11.2%), free zone manufacturing (8.2%), transportation and storage (8.2%), communications (7.6%), public administration (7.5%), health (7.4%), commerce (7.1%), and financial services (6.5%).
IMAE records an average growth of 5.8% during the first four months of this year, above the potential expansion rate of the economy, consistent with the 6.1% growth experienced in the first quarter and the year-on-year variation of 4.7% evidenced in April 2022.
The activity of hotels, bars and restaurants, in terms of real added value, showed a relative variation of 39.9%, driven by the arrival of 1,943,493 non-resident foreigners during the first four months of the year, equivalent to a year-on-year growth of 181.2%, as well as an average occupancy rate of over 70%.
It is important to highlight that the total number of non-resident visitors in April reached a record high for that month of 626,010 tourists, exceeding by 7.1% the total number of tourists received in the same month of 2019, showing levels higher than those recorded before the pandemic.
These positive results confirm the resilience of the Dominican economy in the face of the current international environment, characterized by recent geopolitical conflicts and the global cost shock, says the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic regarding the preliminary results of the economy as of April 2022.
Construction slows growth
IMAE places the growth of the construction sector at 4.6%; while for the period January-March 2022, it had an increase of 6.3%; meanwhile, the January-February report of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) placed the year-on-year increase of this item at an average of 4.8%.
This timid growth in the sector is linked to the current situation regarding rising construction material prices, which represents a constant concern for its stakeholders and for buyers; added to the problems generated by the war between Russia and Ukraine, among other variables.
So far the Government has not taken any measures to stop the price increases nor has it responded to the proposals put forward by industry associations that have demanded action in response to the situation.
One of them was the request made to the State to evaluate - in conjunction with the Commission for the Regulation of Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures (CDC) - the need to eliminate the current antidumping measures for a period of 6 months, which would allow the entry of essential construction products, such as steel, among others, with the tariff established for it, without any penalty or additional cost.”.
In a statement issued last April, the Dominican Association of Housing Builders and Promoters (ACOPROVI), the Association of Housing Promoters and Builders of Cibao (APROCOVICI), and the Dominican Chamber of Construction (CADOCON) called for a review of the proposals with the aim of preserving the right of more Dominicans to access decent housing.
Similarly, the construction sector associations proposed monetary and financial initiatives, with a view to creating the conditions to promote access to financing facilities with interim loans at competitive rates for real estate project developers.
“As well as mortgage loans, at low interest rates and a reduction of the transfer tax for purchasers of new homes from 3% to 2%, for a period of one year,” they suggest.
“In order to diversify purchases and contracts, it was proposed to evaluate the possibility of conducting open public tenders of a national and international nature by the State, with the intention of opening the gap for the purchase of certain construction products necessary for the development of public sector projects,” they suggested.
