Dominican Republic foreign debt climbs 11.8% on bonds

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic’s foreign debt grew 11.8%, from Jan. to Sept. 2014 compared with the same period in 2013, the Central Bank said in its 2014 Report on the Dominican Economy.

It said the external debt increased by US$1.74 billion, mostly due to new bonds issues and the Petrocaribe Energy Cooperation Agreement.

Statistics from the Central Bank’s Public Credit Agency place the public sector external consolidated debt at US$16.6 billion, or 26.4% of GDP at the end of September.

Of the total debt US$15.7 billion (24.6% of GDP) correspond to the nonfinancial public sector, whereas the Central Bank accounts for the remaining US$900.1 million, or 1.4% of GDP.