Hotels, bars and restaurants sector increases by 9.5%

Santo Domingo—The Dominican economy expanded by 5.1% between January and April of 2024, according to the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).

The monetary entity said this is due to the dynamism of economic activity in April, whose year-on-year growth closed at 7.8%, the highest in the last 28 months and the period with the best performance in the first four months of this year.

Growth, measured through the monthly indicator of economic activity (IMAE), was 6.2 percentage points higher than March’s growth of only 1.6%. This was influenced by lower growth in the United States—the country’s leading trading partner—and the effect of the Easter holiday.

The activity of hotels, bars, and restaurants largely influenced the year-on-year variation from January to April 2024. Growth averaging 9.5% during that period was followed by financial services, which stood at 7.1%.

These sectors were followed by:

• Construction (6.4%)

• Real Estate (6.1%)

• Free Trade Zones (6.0%)

• Energy & Water (5.2%)

• Agriculture (3.9%)

• Trade (3.1%)

• Local Manufacturing (2.8%)

The only productive segment that registered a contraction during these four months was the export of mines and quarries, with a drop of 16.5%.