Dominican Central Bank injects US$200.0M to keep demand ‘normal’

Santo Domingo.- Central banker Hector Valdez Albizu on Tuesdayannounced a gradual injection of as much as US$200.0 million to the currencymarket to meet the of economy’s demand of dollars and contribute to the “normalbehavior” of Dominican Republic’s productive activities.

"We will neither allow uncertainty to be generated regardingthe flow of currency into the productive sectors, nor create unwanted expectationson the relative level of the exchange rate, much less at a time when theCentral Bank has sufficient international reserves to face any eventuality,"Valdez said.

In a meeting with the treasurers of financial institutionsaccompanied by Central Bank senior officials and technical staff, Valdez alsonoted that there are neither monetary nor fiscal reasons that could lead to aninadequate behavior of the currency market.

The official stressed the Central Bank’s strong internationalreserves, which set a record at yearend 2015, adding that yesterday, March 28, grossinternational reserves topped US$5.17 billion, with US$5.12 billion in netreserves, “with 3.7 months of imports, which has been recognized by internationalorganizations and risk rating agencies.”