‘It’s strange’ for an IMF report to mention corruption

Dominican Republic.- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) “makes an incomplete and little exhaustive analysis of public finances when considering only one side of the equation: income,” and it’s strange that it mentions corruption.

The economist Ernesto Selman made the statement on the conclusions of the IMF analysis of the Dominican economy published this week.

The representative of the Regional Sustainable Economic Strategies Center (CREES) said the document must be thoroughly studied because the IMF language is rooted in international diplomacy, “to generate little friction and little noise.”

Selman said the IMF validate the economy’s good performance and economic growth as Central Bank figures show but questions the Fund’s positive outlook after the 4.6 % growth in 2017 on internal credit. “Here arises the question of how sustainable is it to depend on credit to permanently grow.”

“On the one hand, the IMF indicates that employment and wages continue to recover, highlighting an unemployment rate of 5.1%; this is the open unemployment rate, which does not reflect key elements of the labor market, ” he said.

Selman reiterated that it’s strange for a diplomatic body to issue statements that refer to corruption. “The Fund indicates that the Dominican Republic must move forward with reforms to improve public financial management and strengthen transparency in the procurement and public hiring process.”