Santo Domingo.- Throughout 2023, the Dominican Republic faced challenges due to the high cost of essential products, influenced by global events outside of local control.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the world from early 2020 to 2022, and the war between Russia and Ukraine started in February 2022, impacted the global economy, increasing freight costs of raw materials and fertilizers, raising the costs of food production and housing projects in the Dominican Republic.
Prices remained relatively stable in 2023, with ocean freight costs falling by more than 50%.
Opposition politicians criticized the government for these economic pressures. However, Eddy Alcántara, executive director of the National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Pro Consumidor), affirms that the Dominican Republic was one of the Ibero-American countries least impacted by inflation in 2023.
This is supported by a study by the Ibero-American Forum of Government Consumer Protection Agencies (FIAGC), placing the country in third place among those least affected by inflation, behind Paraguay and Bolivia.
Essential products such as fresh chicken, eggs, oil, and rice showed price stability. Fuel prices remained almost constant throughout the year, benefiting from government subsidies.
For example, Premium gasoline and Regular gasoline experienced a slight price reduction at the end of December 2023.
In addition, the government maintained various measures to mitigate the impact of inflation, including fuel subsidies and financial support for sectors such as electricity, transport, and food production.
In 2022, the government allocated substantial funds to these sectors, which had a positive impact on product prices in 2023.
The Central Bank’s financial policies, such as interest rate adjustments, have been effective in curbing inflation, with expectations of recovery of the real wages of the working class.
Juan Lantigua, manager of Institutional Relations of the Savings and Credit Bank (Banfondesa), pointed out that these policies significantly benefit the working class.