Despite the covid-19 pandemic, stock market will grow this year in the Dominican Republic: APB

Despite the covid-19 pandemic, the country’s stock market will continue to grow this year, the executive director of the Dominican Republic Stock Exchange Association, Mario Franco, said yesterday.

He specified that the stock market had shown constant growth over the years, and in this “2021, we do not expect anything different.”

He argued that last year was a litmus test for the financial market, in which the stock market demonstrated its undeniable resilience. He specified that the sector was proactive in seeking solutions that immediately adapted to remote work, guaranteeing business continuity and service to customers.

“Despite the inconveniences we are experiencing, we were able to maintain the rate of opening new accounts that we have had over the years, closing the year with an approximate total of 102,036 accounts, which represents some 8,000 new accounts for 2020,” Franco claimed.

He expressed that maintaining that level of account opening reflects that Dominicans are becoming interested in the stock market.

“If we compare it with 2019, we experienced a 10% reduction in operations in pesos for a cumulative total of RD $ 2,558,184 million, offset by an increase of 184% in investments in dollars for an accumulated US $ 19,589 million,” the executive director said.

He recalled that 2020 had the pandemic and that it was an electoral year, which creates a certain level of volatility in the stock market, a situation that investors take advantage of.

He pointed out that in 2020 there were months in which he experienced an increase in the exchange rate, “which most likely caused this result of investments in dollars.”

Despite the adversities and uncertainty of the past year, the stock market was able to demonstrate its strength, and that several investors made adjustments to their investment portfolios and took advantage of the volatility.

Franco said that despite having investment funds, the country does not have the first issue of shares issued directly to the public.

He highlighted an issuer that structured an issue of shares but had to carry it out through a trust because the stock market has severe tax restrictions that must be resolved to make the public issue of shares viable.

He considered that to increase the supply of variable income products, entrepreneurs open up to the stock market and analyze its advantages.

He stated that it is necessary to develop a complementary regulation of the Securities Market Law, which will fill a pending issue of the General Law of Companies.