Elections won’t affect Dominican economic performance: Central banker

Santo Domingo.- Central banker Hector Valdez Albizu on Thursdaysaid it’s unlikely that the electoral process affects the Dominican economy’s performance.

"We project that the Dominican Republic will continueits strong economic performance this year, growing at its potential level of5.5 percent to 6%. After the crisis of 2003-2004, the financial sector hasundergone considerable development by implementing sound policies that have dealtwith fundamental weaknesses and greatly improved performance," theofficial said, interviewed by British magazine First.

Valdez made a comprehensive account of the behavior of theDominican and regional economies, and what differentiates them. "Generallyspeaking, there are two types of economies in Latin America and the Caribbean:focusing on the export of raw materials and primary products and, like ours,that although small, are open, flexible and diversified."

After an average growth rate of 4.3% from 2004 to 2011, theeconomies of Latin America grew only 2.6% in 2015.

"The growth of our economy has not been affected bythe financial crisis in the US or the slowdown in China,” he said, noting that tourism,the economy’s main sector, posted earnings of US$6.5 billion in 2015, whileremittances from Dominicans living abroad topped US$4.5 billion.

Valdez said Dominican Republic’s earnings in tourism, remittances,foreign investment and exports of goods and services totaled US$23 billion lastyear, or 35 percent of GDP.