The economy of

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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• The advantages of Dominican Republic’s location:

• The geographic location of Dominican Republic has innumerable advantages

regarding commerce, such as access to nautical communication, which creates

easy access to neighboring countries. Dominican Republic serves as a bridge

between the countries from Central America and South America, also counting

North America.

• This position allows for a commercial and touristic bridge, through land and sea,

which is caused by the fluid and effective communication with the rest of the

countries in the American continent. This turns Dominican Republic into one of the

most important economic bridges in the Caribbean.

• Being the second largest country in the West Indies and enjoying a tropical

cllimate, it is a prosperous country fit for growing a large variety of vegetables,

fruits and other agricultural plants. We are one of the countries with the largest

supply and best production quality of organic cacao in the world.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Its Economy

• The Dominican Republic has the second largest economy of Latinamerica and

the largest of Central America and the Caribbean. Although the country is best

known for its sugar production, the economy is now dominated by the service

industry. The economic progress of the country is best exemplified by its

advanced telecommunications system.

• We are the most visited destination in the Caribbean. All throughout the year,

the nation’s golf courses are one of the most popular attractions. The country

has the largest mountain in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte, and it also has Lago

Enriquillo, the deepest and largest lake in the Caribbean.

• Music and sports are of great importance in dominican culture, with the merenge

and bachata as national rhythms, and baseball as the sport of choice. The

country had CELAC’s pro tempore presence for the 2016-2017 period.

Touristic Industry

• The touristic sector meets both national and international needs

and it is based on the construction of private urbanizations with

(unifamiliar) houses, apartments, golf courses, etc; resort hotels

are also very popular. In order of importance, these are the

primary touristic destinations:

• Bávaro – Punta Cana

• La Romana

• Samaná

• Puerto Plata – Sosúa

• Juan Dolio

The growth of telecommunication

• The growth and adoption of new technologies in the country have been constant. Dominican Republic, actually, can show telecommunication advantages unmatched by other countries in the region.

• Studies from the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel), until 2016, established that the number of mobile lines passed from 4.6 to 5.2 million in the last nine months of 2016, which means an increase of 641,760 new cellphones, equivalent to 13.8%.

• The communciations sector has shown itself to be one of the most dynamic The statistics presented by the Central Bank or Banco Central place it between the most significant sectors that affect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

• In between January 2012 and December 2015, according to preliminary data at the end of the year, the sector generated an added value to the GDP of RD$175,645.7 million. The average growth during the last four years has been of 6.4%.

• https://www.eldinero.com.do/author/redaccion/

Construction Sector

• Contruction in Dominican Republic showed had grown 12.2% by the end of September 2016.

• Since 2014 this segment has proved itself unstoppable; by the end of 2014 it had grown to 14% and by New Years 2015, this had skyrocketed to 18.1%, according to statistics from the Central Bank of Dominican Republic, which had reached to the conclusion that the craetion of houses, offices, commercial premises and hotels, in some cases, tripled the national gross domestic product. The construction sector has been prominent in the region since 2013, four years ago, something that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reiterates.

Construction Statistics from Private Sector

• In short, the construction sector is one of the main

spearheads of Dominican Republic’s economic progress.

There is a very tight-knit economic relation between this

sector and the rest of the economy, to such a point that it

is commonly used as an indicator of economic progress

for public and private financial entities.

• This sector has control over the general economy, which

turns it in one of the most important business sectors in Dominican Republic.

• The construction sector was one of the sectors that had

expanded the most by the end of 2016.

The growth of 8.8% in this particular area was driven by

private inversions in residential projects, new complexes

and hotels in tourist areas, and in metropolitan areas.

Likewise, by inversions from the public sector in the

modernization of the roadway system in the country.

Similarly, in the execution of important infrastructural

projects. Among these, low-cost classrooms and living

complexes.

This data is contained in the annual report of the

dominican economy for 2016.

Commercial agreements/ DR-CAFTA

• Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, DR-CAFTA

• Free Trade Agreement between Dominican Republic and the United States of

America that was integrated to the negotiated agreement with Central America (DR-

CAFTA); signed August 5, 2004. The countries of Central America that benefit from

the agreement are: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

• The CAFTA has as its main objectives to motivate the growth and diversification of

commerce in the region, to eliminate the obstacles and barriers of trade, increase the

oportunities for inversion, and to facilitate the circulation of goods and services. The

entry treaty eliminated 80% of tariffs, leaving only a 20% to gradually disappear in a

10-year period, that’s to say, by 2015.

• https://platodecarmen.blogspot.com/2014/04/acuerdos-y-tratados-de-republica.html

Commercial agreements/ AAE-EPA

• Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

• The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), is an agreement promoting economic cooperation between África, the Caribbean, the Pacific (ACP) and the European Union plus its member countries. It was signed in the year 2008.

• Its objective is to promote and accelerate the economic, cultural, and social growth of the ACP, to contribute towards peace and security, and to create a stable and democratic political climate.

• https://platodecarmen.blogspot.com/2014/04/acuerdos-y-tratados-de-republica.html

Partial Scope Agreement between the

Dominican Republic and Panama

• Signed July 25,1985 and entering in effect

November 2, 2003. This Commercial Treaty manifests two types of products: One-way and two-way shipments of the goods from Dominican Republic and Panama; as long as they comply with the established Rules of Origin.

https://platodecarmen.blogspot.com/2014/04/acuerdos-y-tratados-de-republica.html

Commercial Agreements/ CARICOM

• Signed in 1998 y ratified by the Dominican Republic in February of 2001it

establishes a free market between the Dominican Republic and the fourteen nations

of the Caribbean (CARICOM), in accordance with the guidelines of the World Trade

Organization (WTO). The commercial exchange is developed in conditions of

equality and reciprocity between the Dominican Republic and the states of the

Caribbean with most development, and asymmetries are permited with the Members

with less development, who are: Antigua y Barbuda, Belice, Dominica, Granada,

Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and

Haití.

• The Free Trade Agreement between Dominican Republic and CARICOM coexists

with the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). One disposition with the EPA

establishes that, in case of divergence between the two treaties when it comes to

how to treat a specific product or sector, the treaty with the least restrictive code is to

be used. http://drlawyer.com/espanol/la-republica-dominicana-y-el-comercio-internacional/

International Commerce

• Volume of External Dominican Commerce

• The imports and exports of the Dominican

Republic in 2015 ascended to 16,9 and 9,7 billion

dollars, respectively. The main buyers of

dominican products were the United States (49 %),

Haiti (14 %), Canada (9 %), and Switzerland (2,5

%). The imports mainly came from the United

States ($ 7,3 billions in 2014), China ($ 2,1

millions) and Mexico ($ 1,1 millions).

http://drlawyer.com/espanol/la-republica-dominicana-y-el-comercio-internacional/

Participation in the International Community

• Dominican Republic maintains diplomatic relations with 129 countries and belongs to multiple international organizations, among those: United Nations, Organization of American States, Central American Integration System, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, International Finance Corporation, Inter-American Development Bank, International Investment Corporation, Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Caribbean Development Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.

http://drlawyer.com/espanol/la-republica-dominicana-y-el-comercio-internacional/

Participation in the World Trade Organization

(WTO)

• The Dominican Republic has been a member of

the World Trade Organization (WTO), the regulating authority of international commerce, since its foundation in 1995. The main objective of the WTO consists in making sure that the international commercial currents circulate among its member countries with the utmost ease, foreseeability and Freedom.

• In its state as a developing country, it is permited for the Dominican Republic to receive preferential treatement, not mutual, from other member countries.

http://drlawyer.com/espanol/la-republica-dominicana-y-el-comercio-internacional/