The economy of the Dominican Republic registered a growth of 3.6% last October, which constitutes the largest monthly expansion, higher than the 3.1% in September and the 2.6% year-on-year in the third quarter, the Central Bank reported this Friday.
In a statement, the issuing entity specified that the increase registered in October is mainly explained by the excellent performance of the activities of hotels, bars and restaurants (9.0%), financial services (6.4%), construction (4.0%), 7%), agriculture sector (4.1%), free zone manufacturing (3.4%), commerce (2.8%) and local manufacturing (1.5%), among others.
The organization highlights the excellent performance of construction, with favorable variation rates for the fourth consecutive month.
In accumulated terms, the Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE) registered an average variation of 1.9% in January-October 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, mainly due to the 10.8% expansion of hotels, bars and restaurants, the activity that contributed the most to this year’s growth and explains approximately 40% of it.
The excellent performance of hotels, bars and restaurants is mainly due to the arrival of tourists, which in the first ten months of the year amounted to 8.3 million, a historical record, and is expected to exceed 10 million visitors by the end of 2023, with foreign exchange income to the country of more than 10 billion dollars.
Given the preliminary results corresponding to October, the issuing entity stated that the Dominican economy continues its recovery process to reach its potential growth rate in 2024.
According to the Central Bank, the strength of the macroeconomic fundamentals and the resilience of the productive sectors allow for continued progress in economic reactivation in a context where inflation would remain within the target range of 4.0% ± 1.0%.