RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The economy of the Dominican Republic grew 13.3% in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2020, Central Bank (BCRD) Governor Héctor Valdez Albizu reported Thursday.
This increase exceeds the expectations “of what we had projected for the closing of the first half of 2021”, said the official at a press conference, who put the increase in June, the last month analyzed, at 12.7%.
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The activities with the greatest expansion were construction (42.2%), free zones (31.7%), local manufacturing (14.3%), transportation and storage (13.7%), mining (11.4%), and commerce (10.7%).
Regarding tourism flow, he explained that it was close to 1.9 million visitors, an increase of 36.1 % compared to the previous period, severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Between January and June, tourism revenues registered an increase of US$492 million, reaching US$2.1 billion, for a growth of 29.7%, “a clear indicator of the recovery that the sector is currently experiencing”, he added.
Meanwhile, remittances reached US$5.2 billion, which translated into a 51.5% increase compared to the first half of 2020.
Regarding forecasts for the end of 2021, Valdez Albizu reported that growth of between 8.0 % and 9.0 % was expected.
However, “the faster than expected recovery allows us to update the projection upwards to a range between 9.0% and 10.0%, that is to say, that we would be with an expansion of the economy around a double-digit figure,” he said.