SANTO DOMINGO- With increases of between 5 and 3 pesos, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ito Bisonó, announced yesterday the fuel prices that will be in effect for the week of the fifth to the 11th of this month.
From now on, the prices of regular and premium gasoline will increase by four pesos. Regular gasoline will be sold at 270.50 pesos per gallon, and premium gasoline at 287.60 pesos per gallon.
As for premium diesel, the price per gallon will be 3 pesos higher, to about 236.10, and regular diesel will increase by 5 pesos, to sell for 217.60. Liquefied Petroleum Gas will increase by 1 peso per gallon and its price will be 147.60 going forward.
Transport
The director of the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant), Rafael Arias, stated yesterday that lowering fares on local transportation is not possible.
“There’s no way, commercial activities and transportation are one of them, that’s supported by operating costs and fuel, which is the main element, keeps going up every day, as a society we can’t think that the price of transportation will go down,” Arias said.
While the government tries to curb the fare increase, which drivers' unions have been pushing for since last November, Minister of the Presidency Lisandro Macarrulla held a meeting with transport leaders on January 20th to find a solution to the rising fares.
At a meeting held at the National Palace, the social stability of drivers and users of public transport in the country was guaranteed, according to a press release.
In January, the drivers' leader, Rubén Almonte, declared that fares should cost around RD$65 on public car routes, due to the high price of fuel at present.
“We transporters are a popular part of the people, the fare in a public car should be between 60 and 65 pesos, but what happens is that we don't raise it because raising it would mean raising the price of our brother, the policeman, the guard, the part of a population that will not endure that,” said the leader.
Every time gasoline prices rise, drivers raise a huge outcry and threats of fare increases resurface.
Oil above US$90 creates a new challenge to the anti-inflation plan
The price of a barrel of US WTI oil exceeded $90 yesterday for the first time in seven years, pointing to a new challenge to public finances and the government's efforts to contain the inflationary process that has been affecting the economy since last year.
In recent weeks, the Government and economic authorities have announced a series of measures aimed at controlling persistent inflation, which raises production chain costs and is reflected in increased prices for basic goods consumed by the population.
The AFP news agency reported yesterday that the benchmark "light sweet" (WTI) barrel for March delivery surpassed the $90 mark for the first time since the winter of 2014, closing at $90.27, up 2.27%.
The Central Bank recently indicated that year-on-year inflation at the close of 2021 stood at 8.50%, affected, as in the rest of the world, by more persistent external shocks than expected.
He pointed out that the price increase was significantly influenced by exogenous factors, such as the rise in commodity prices, but particularly by the price of oil and food.
In
addition to the measures taken by the Government and the Central Bank to provide stability and sustainability to the national economy, it is necessary for the authorities to redouble their efforts to maintain the levels of economic recovery that the country has shown.
The Superintendency of Banks intervenes in Bancamérica for its dissolution
The Superintendency of Banks (SB) intervened Wednesday morning in Banco Múltiple Las Américas (Bancamérica) for alleged non-compliance with the regularization plan agreed upon with the financial institution in 2019 and for a low solvency ratio. This financial institution had been accumulating losses since 2015, totaling approximately RD$711 million. The last time it reported profits, at RD$14.2 million, was in 2014. In 2020, according to its accounts commissioner, the institution lost RD$162.9 million, and in 2019, it lost another RD$201.7 million.
Article 46, section E, of the Monetary and Financial Law 183-02 requires a solvency ratio of at least 10%. The legislation stipulates that multiple banks and credit institutions that do not meet this solvency ratio will be considered regulatoryly insolvent. The chairman of Bancamérica's board of directors is Víctor Vargas Irausquín, who has faced legal proceedings in several countries and Panamanian for alleged fraud.
Bancámerica operates nine branches in the Dominican Republic, including its headquarters on the corner of Francisco Prats Ramírez and Padre Emiliano streets in the Evaristo Morales neighborhood of Santo Domingo. It also has offices in Barahona, Vicente Noble, and Neiba in the southern region, as well as a recently opened branch in Punta Cana.
Bancamérica, in any case, is a very small bank that represents barely 0.13% of the financial system's assets, 0.34% of depositors (50% of whom do not have active accounts), and 0.27% of debtors. According to the law, the authorities must respond to depositors within 30 days regarding the contingency fund stipulated by law, which, according to the Central Bank, is approximately RD$21 billion.
Deloitte, in an audit report closed in December 2020, reveals that Bancamérica has generated losses for the year and accumulated as of December 31, 2020, in the amounts of RD$162,972,922 and RD$688,356,376, which represent 15% and 63% of its paid-in capital, respectively, in addition to the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has on operations and subsequent results.
Texts taken from publications of Listín Diarioand El Dinero.
