Construction paces Dominican economy 7% growth in 2015

Santo Domingo.- Centralbanker Hector Valdez Albizu on Wednesday said Dominican Republic´s economy grew7% in 2015, and called the results "satisfactory."

Preliminary figuresshow that the country leads the region´s economic growth for the secondconsecutive year, followed by Panama in Latin America, with 5.9% growth, accordingto the official.

He said yearend inflationwas 2.34%, with the construction (18.2%) and financial intermediation (9.2%)sectors which most contributed to annual growth

Valdez said tourism grew8.9% last year, with 5.6 million nonresident passengers arriving in the country,or 458,482 more visitors than in 2014, of 5.1 million tourists.

The central bankeradded that 155,189 jobs were created in the last 12 months, and now total 390,789during the 36 months of Danilo Medina´s administration, with 235,600 createdbetween October 2012 and October 2014, and 85% of them in the formal sector.