The government projects an exchange rate of RD$60.43 per dollar
Economist explains the reason for the increase at this time of year
Taken from Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO.- The US dollar exchange rate against the Dominican peso ended 2021 on an upward trend, a trend that has continued during the first days of this new year, after depreciating for much of last year.
From the last week of December last year until the first five working days of 2022, the currency has continued to appreciate against the peso, according to records from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
The selling price of the dollar in the spot market went from RD$57.36 on December 27 to RD$57.79 last Friday, January 7.
In the first week of 2022, the dollar registered an average selling price of RD$57.67 per dollar on the spot market. In the first few days of this year, the currency has increased in value each week.
Although the increase in the exchange rate in the last two weeks is slight, barely RD$0.43, the macroeconomic outlook estimated by the government projects that the foreign currency exchange rate dollar .
This was explained by economist and professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), Francisco Tavárez, who added that when import demand normalizes seasonally due to Christmas and New Year's shopping, the exchange rate usually stabilizes.
In 2020, as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Dominican economy, the exchange rate surged, averaging almost RD$5 per dollar between March and August of that year.
During that period, the exchange rate rose from an average of RD$53.73 per dollar in March 2020 (when activities were paralyzed throughout the country) to RD$58.48 in August. From that month onward, the currency stabilized before beginning a decline.
An atypical situation in 2021 caused the Dominican peso to appreciate against the dollar by almost 2%, going from an average selling price in the spot market of RD$58.30 in January of that year to RD$57.16 in December, according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
