SANTO DOMINGO – Preliminary figures for the Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE) for July 2025 show a year-on-year expansion of 2.9%, higher than the 1.1% year-on-year change recorded in June. This growth was primarily driven by improved performance in the mining, free trade zone, construction, and services sectors. Within the services sector, financial services, hotels, bars and restaurants, energy and water, and transportation and storage stand out. As a result, the accumulated economic growth for the January-July 2025 period reached 2.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.
In a statement, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) emphasizes that, as demonstrated on previous occasions, the Dominican economy has shown resilience in the face of adverse scenarios. The statement cites the recent stimulus measures approved by the Monetary Board, through an RD$81 billion liquidity program, which, according to the institution, are showing significant progress. "Two months after its implementation, the Central Bank has disbursed RD$48.451 billion (approximately 60%), leaving roughly RD$32 billion available to continue supporting productive sectors for the remainder of the year," the statement notes.
Analyzing the results of the IMAE (Monthly Index of Economic Activity) for July 2025, positive year-on-year variations are observed in most economic activities. With regard to mining, it experienced a year-on-year variation of 21.0% in July, associated with the increase in gold and silver extracted during that month, bringing the accumulated growth of this activity to 5.1% from January to July.
Within the industrial sector, the performance of manufacturing in free trade zones stands out, registering a year-on-year increase of 7.1% in July 2025. This growth was driven by external demand for goods produced under this regime. Exports increased by 5.0% in July, totaling US$805.8 million, and accumulating US$5,057.8 million for the January-July period.
Regarding the value added of hotels, bars, and restaurants, this sector showed a year-on-year increase of 4.4% in July 2025, primarily due to the arrival of non-resident passengers, which grew by 6.5% in July. This performance is largely attributable to the increase in air traffic of non-resident foreigners from South America, resulting from the measures implemented by the Ministry of Tourism to promote tourism and strengthen connectivity, with the aim of increasing the flow of visitors from non-traditional destinations.
Financial intermediation activity experienced a year-on-year growth of 6.3% in July, with this result influenced by the 10.3% expansion of credit directed to the private sector in national and foreign currency, equivalent to an additional RD$224 billion compared to July of 2024.
During July, construction sector activity registered a year-on-year increase of 3.8%, improving its performance compared to the accumulated contraction of 2.3% observed in the January-June period. This performance is reflected in the local sales volumes of key inputs for infrastructure development, particularly cement and reinforcing bars, which show increases compared to July 2024. If this trend continues and external factors of uncertainty gradually dissipate, a reactivation of investment schedules in private sector projects is expected, which, combined with greater capital expenditure, would contribute to consolidating the sector's recovery.
Finally, the recent liquidity program approved by the Monetary Board to support productive sectors, along with strong external account performance, has created a favorable environment for a gradual economic recovery. The channeling of outstanding reserve requirements released by the Central Bank and progress in the monetary policy transmission mechanism will be key to promoting the expansion of private credit and reducing interest rates. This, combined with increased capital expenditures for the remainder of the year, would boost the dynamism of productive sectors and contribute to economic growth.
