Danilo Medina assesses Dominican Republic’s economic situation regarding impact of COVID-19

President Danilo Medina today led a meeting to follow up on the country’s economic situation and the current behavior of the main economic and financial parameters.

Medina evaluated, together with the Governor of the Central Bank Héctor Valdez Albizu, and the Minister of Finance, Donald Guerrero, what the economic prospects of the country will be after overcoming the coronavirus (COVID-19). The meeting took place in the Private Hall of the National Palace.

The Government reported that it continues to monitor the impact of the coronavirus and the other factors of uncertainty and its effects on the Dominican economy, being prepared to continue reacting in a timely manner in order to guarantee the well-being of the productive sectors and all Dominicans.

Resilient economy. A presidential statement cites that according to the projections of the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Dominican economy will be the only one in the region that will escape the recession trend, due to its resilience , diversity and strength at the time of this pandemic.

It specifies that the government has adopted a series of measures to reduce the economic impact of the pandemic in the country and protect jobs and all productive sectors, highlighting the Solidarity Assistance Fund for Employees (FASE) and the Stay at Home program.

The Central Bank has made more than RD $ 100 billion and US $ 622 million available to the productive sectors and households to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To date, more than RD $ 45 billion pesos and some US $ 57 million have been channeled into the economy through the different facilities.

The consumer price index (CPI) for the month of March was – 0.52% compared to February 2020, placing the accumulated inflation for the first quarter of the year at -0.32%.

With this result, year-on-year inflation measured from March 2019 to March 2020 reached 2.45%, falling below the lower limit of the target range of 4.0% ± 1.0%.