Exports start 2019 with a good foot, but the country is still very behind
SANTO DOMINGO. - The General Directorate of Customs (DGA) registers, in the first two months of 2019, that the year with. However, in the long term and compared to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, it experiences one in its exports.
Therefore, to close the gaps that the country has against its peers in the region, exports should grow at an average annual rate of 10% in 2030, more than twice the average growth of the last decade.
The data and analysis are contained in the third Panorama of Foreign Trade of the Dominican Observatory of International Trade (ODCI), corresponding to the January-March quarter of 2019.
The body, composed of nine institutions and directed by the economist and research professor of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) Pavel Isa Contreras, indicated that, in the first two months of the year, exportsThey grew in 8.3% with respect to the same period of 2018, reaching USD $ 1,518 million. In addition, he pointed out that, although it is lower than that observed in January and February of 2018, that rhythmof growth is remarkable and greater than the annual average recorded between 2013 and 2018.
In its publication, the ODCI noted that exports with the highest growth were gold, free zones of electrical appliances, cigars and medical devices, and some of national companies of iron and steel products, fruits and plastics.
The third Panorama of Foreign Trade warns, however, that, despite this, over the last 15 years, the Dominican export performance has been much lower than that of Mexico, countries of Central America, Andean countries, MERCOSUR and from the Caribbean. While in that period, the non-oil exports of those countries were multiplied by 2.4, while those of the Dominican Republic only multiplied by 1.4.
In a detailed analysis, the ODCI also explained that the duty taxes recently by United States to products from China open opportunities for Dominican exports. Between 2015 and 2017, the Dominican Republicexported to the United States an average of 1,523 million per year in products that China also exports to that market and that are now subject to additional tariffs. This is one third of all the country's exports to that market.
The analysis identified the goods that have the most potential to take advantage of the tensions between the United States and China, including jewelry, footwear and their parts, and some textile clothing. Also some electrical appliances, dishes, plastic containers and bags, dental floss, and some food preparations.
About the Dominican Observatory of International Trade
The ODCI is a permanent institutional academic space for research, capacity building, service provision and strategic communication on issues related to foreign trade and its socioeconomic, national and regional impacts.
It is integrated by business associations such as the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), the Dominican Association of Free Zones (ADOZONA) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAMDR), as well as public institutions linked to international trade such as the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), the Directorate of Administration and Commercial Treaties (DICOEX) of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MiPyME (MICM) and the National Council of Free Trade Zones (CNZFE) .