Remittances, exports cushioned tourism plunge: Central Bank

Santo Domingo.- The fall in tourism and free zone exports  squeezed the flow of currencies into the Dominican economy. The most recent data published by the Dominican Central Bank show that at the end of 2019 foreign exchange earnings grew at a slower pace compared to the previous year.

At the end of last year, foreign exchange income totaled US$30.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, while a year earlier, in 2018, some US$29.2 billion entered the Dominican economy, a 5.7% jump compared to 2017.

The Central Bank this week shows that merchandise shipments from free zones fell from US$6.2 billion in 2018 to US$6.1 billion last year (-1.5%) and revenues from tourism services fell 1.2% in 2019, to US$7.5 billion, from US$7.6 billion the previous year.

The strong recovery of other sources of foreign exchange income, such as remittances, foreign direct investment and national exports cushioned the total result.