Dominican duty-free zones’ collapse no fault of economic policy, official says

http://www.dominicantoday.com 26/02/07

Santo Domingo.-The Presidency's Press director Rafael Núñez denied that the Government’s economic policy is the cause for the collapse at the duty-free zones, as some sectors have alleged.

Núñez clarified that it is the textile sub-sector which is in crisis, and not all of the zones, as has been reported.

“The textile sub-sector in the duty-free zones has lost thousands of jobs. The reason for this is that we have China’s competition with the lowest costs in the world. It is not the Dominican textile sector that has declined, but others around the world have also fallen. The loss of jobs is not due to a bad economic policy sponsored by the Government,” he said.

In defending the policy, Núñez affirmed that the government has met its promise to create 400,000 new jobs.

“Last year, we created 286,000 jobs. Commercial activities, tourism, telecommunications and the banking sector have had a sustained growth leading in Latin America and second in the world,” according to the official.

Notwithstanding, Núñez acknowledged that the country has accumulated a social debt, a number of problems that include joblessness, energy crisis, etcetera, that still await a response.

Núñez said that it was impossible to replace all of the jobs that were lost during the four-year period of the previous administration. He considered that a lengthier period of time is required to accomplish job returns.