World Bank lowers growth forecast for the Dominican Republic

As the year progresses, new challenges may arise and change the economic landscape. This is the case with the growth projections made by international organizations such as the World Bank (WB), which initially forecasted “a solid 4.9% in 2023 and 2024”, but reduced that projection to 4.4%. This announcement comes alongside others released by state agencies such as the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Development, which indicated that the gross domestic product (GDP) would grow 4.25% this year, 0.25% less than projected in November. Oxford Economics, which initially indicated that the Dominican Republic would have the strongest post-pandemic recovery in 2023, now maintains that this performance would be 3.8%.

Both forecasts are consistent with the regional perspective. The WB report estimates that regional GDP will grow 1.4% in 2023, a lower rate than anticipated, with rates of 2.4% expected for 2024 and 2025. For the international organization, these indicators are “too low to achieve significant progress in reducing poverty.”

With the new projections, Panama takes the lead in terms of economic growth, expected to grow by 5.7% in 2023. In this sense, Paraguay is also positioned above the Dominican Republic, with growth projected at 4.8%. Looking to 2024, the Dominican GDP would advance one position to 5.0%, while Panama would present indicators of 5.8%. The only nations with negative growth are Chile (-0.7) and Haiti (-1.1), although they are expected to turn positive in 2024.