Santo Domingo. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its growth projection for the Dominican Republic’s economy in 2023 to 3%, down from its previous estimate of 4.2% in April.
The IMF recommends that the country focus on improving credibility, improving the business climate to boost productivity, strengthening government management and social safety nets, and implementing reforms in the electricity sector.
The IMF also suggests that the Dominican Republic should work on broadening the tax base to achieve sustainable increases in revenue, which would facilitate fiscal consolidation in the medium term.
Despite this lower growth projection, the IMF notes that the services sector in the Dominican Republic has shown resilience, supported by strong remittances, which has helped mitigate the economic impact.
The IMF’s outlook for the Dominican Republic’s economy in 2024 is more positive, with a projected growth rate of 5.2%. The government itself had estimated in August a growth rate of 3% for 2023, after revising previous projections downward.
The IMF highlights the importance of monitoring and strengthening prudential measures and supervisory tools in the banking sector to ensure its soundness in the Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic (CAPRD) region.