IMF issues concluding statement on Dominican Economy

An IMF Staff concluding statement issued earlier this month states that the Dominican economy is recovering strongly following the destruction wrought by hurricane Maria.

According to the statement, output growth in 2019 is estimated at 10 percent, largely offsetting the cumulative decline of 10 percent since the hurricane.

Construction has been the main sector leading the recovery, with large investments in infrastructure and public services, aimed at building resilience to natural disasters. Tourism and agriculture, key for exports and employment, are growing with support from government programs and financing, but remain significantly below potential in light of the significant loss of trees and equipment.

The IMF statement also concludes that large-scale public investment aimed at rehabilitation, reconstruction and resilience while contributing to growth, has worsened the fiscal outlook.

The report states further that fiscal deficit is projected to remain large in 2019 to 2010 at 7 percent of GDP, a significant improvement (4 percent of GDP) compared to 2018-2019.

The narrowing of the deficit is explained by the recovery of tax revenues and more measured execution of public investment, owing to the decline of readily-available Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) deposits.