“The remarkable performance of the first nine months of the year reinforces the projection that the Dominican Republic will achieve double-digit growth by the end of 2021, that is, 10% or more, placing the country once again as one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America.”.
SANTO DOMINGO.- The construction sector continues to lead as the fastest growing sector in the January-September period of this year, according to figures released yesterday by the governor of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, Héctor Valdez Albizu.
This important segment of the real estate industry grew by 30%, representing almost 80% of gross fixed capital formation. At the close of the first half of this year, construction increased by 42.2%; it rose by 21.5% in January-March and by 70.9% in April-June. Projections from the Association of Housing Builders and Developers (ACOPROVI) place the sector's growth for 2021 between 15% and 18%.
The figures released yesterday at the celebration of the institution's 74th anniversary establish that the economic activities that led the performance in terms of added value in that period were: Hotels, bars and restaurants (31.8%); construction (30.0%); manufacturing in free zones (24.2%); transport and storage (13.7%); local manufacturing (11.5%); trade (11.1%); and mining and quarrying (6.9%).
Valdez Albizu said that, according to preliminary figures, between January and September the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 12.7% compared to the same period last year.
He noted that this result is consistent with year-on-year variations in quarterly GDP of 3.1% in January-March, 25.4% in April-June and 11.4% in July-September of this year.
He also indicated that “the remarkable performance of the first nine months of the year consolidates the projection that the Dominican Republic will achieve double-digit growth by the end of 2021, that is, 10% or more, placing the country once again as one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America.”.
In that vein, the governor wanted to emphasize that "this growth is not a simple statistical rebound, but a significant reactivation compared to pre-pandemic levels.".
Valdez Albizu said that “to illustrate this point, we compare the production volume index of the IMAE for September 2019, which was 173.3, with that of September 2021, which rose to 181.0, achieving a growth of 4.4% compared to the pre-pandemic period—a true feat given the health shock that affected the economy. Specifically, in annualized terms, the IMAE for September 2021 increased by 10.6%.”
