Relaxation of COVID-19 measures allows recovery of goods exports; tourism has not yet come out of the crisis

SANTO DOMINGO. - With the flexibility of the measures adopted to face COVID-19, exports of goods show a gradual recovery since May, exhibiting an average monthly amount of USD $ 851.4 million, a value similar to that experienced at the beginning of the year. This is established in the Foreign Trade Panorama number 9 of the Dominican Observatory of International Trade (ODCI).

In the article Foreign Trade and Foreign Exchange Market show signs of recovery after "lost months" due to confinementIt is noted that family remittances have also recovered, but not income from tourism.

“Exports from free zones were the ones that had the greatest impact on the recovery. From June to August, they grew at an average monthly rate of 11.0% and accounted for 60.6% of all exports. On the other hand, national exports, which accounted for 36.0% of total exports between June and August, presented an average monthly growth of 13.6% ”, says the OCDI document, which is based in the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC).

It is indicated that, with the reopening, both exports and imports recovered, registering average growth rates per month of 11.1% and 6.4%, in line with the projections of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on international trade in the region, by 2020.

ODCI projects that the exports of goods registered by the General Customs Directorate (DGA), which account for about 90.0% of total Dominican exports, will be reduced by USD $ 1,511.9 million, thus reaching some USD $ 8,567.3 million or 14.9% less than the value of exports in 2019.

Similarly, it is estimated that imports of goods registered by the DGA will reach USD $ 16,003.0 million, a reduction of more than USD $ 4,600.0 than in 2019. The result would be a reduction of USD $ 3,102.2 million in the balance of the trade balance due to a greater decrease in imports than in exports of goods.

Remittances

Likewise, the family remittances received have shown signs of recovery after having presented significant decreases in the months of March and April. Compared to those same months of the previous year, family remittances were reduced by 27.2%. However, from May to August, a very positive performance was recorded after confinement, exhibiting an average monthly growth of 23.8%, respectively.

Tourism

The central article of the Foreign Trade Panorama specifies that tourism revenues do not show signs of recovery. “This has been one of the main causes of the depreciation of the peso, where up to September the accumulated nominal depreciation has been 10.5%. Due to the strong confinement measures regarding the closure of borders and economic activities related to tourism, it is estimated that the average income of the sector between April and June was approximately USD $ 146,892.3 dollars, when for the same period of the previous year they were of USD $ 536.6 million.

"Although it is true that the behavior of the months after these measures shows some recovery, they still indicate drastically lower income than in 2019, averaging a reduction of 87.7% compared to the same months of the previous year."

About ODCI

The ODCI is a permanent academic-institutional 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 made up of 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 MSMEs (MICM) and the National Council of Free Export Zones (CNZFE) , and INTEC as an academic ally.