Dominican Republic FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Foreign Trade
Unloading lumber, port of Haina
Courtesy Inter-American Development Bank
According to official figures, exports in 1987 dipped
to
US$718 million, a ten-year low. Diminished exports, in
combination with the country's largest import bill ever
(US$1.5
billion), caused the nation's merchandise trade deficit to
reach
the unprecedented and precarious level of US$832 million.
Traditional exports suffered a steady decline from 1984 to
1987
because of a steep drop in sugar revenues.
This negative data on overall exports, however, masked
positive patterns in exports at the sectoral level, as the
economy continued to diversify away from sugar. For
example, the
structure of Dominican exports changed dramatically from
1981 to
1987 as the share of traditional exports (sugar, coffee,
cocoa,
and tobacco) dropped from 62 percent to 43 percent, while
minerals as a percentage of exports went from 28 percent
to 34
percent, and nontraditionals jumped from 10 to 23 percent.
These
data, however, excluded free-zone exports, which
technically were
not recorded as merchandise trade. Free-zone exports
swelled from
the equivalent of 10 percent of total exports to 31
percent of
total exports from 1981 to 1987, and in 1987 free-zone
export
revenues surpassed those derived from traditional
agricultural
exports for the first time
(see table 7).
The novel composition of Dominican exports also caused
a
redirection of the country's goods and services toward the
United
States market and those of developed countries in general.
The
United States share of Dominican exports, after peaking at
83
percent in 1970, fell to 52 percent by 1980, but then
leaped to
87 percent by 1987, indicating a somewhat risky dependence
on a
single export market. Puerto Rico's share of the country's
exports, which were included in the United States figures,
steadily increased during the 1980s, and it exceeded 7
percent by
1987. Less developed countries received only 3 percent of
Dominican exports in 1987; only 2 percent of all foreign
sales
went to Latin America. The Soviet Union, which first
contracted
to purchase Dominican sugar in the mid-1980s, accounted
for 2
percent of exports, a figure that was expected to
increase.
European markets, particularly Spain, Switzerland, and
Belgium,
received the balance. An unknown, but presumably large,
amount of
exports was smuggled out of the Dominican Republic,
especially to
Haiti, to circumvent international agreements, exchange
controls,
and export taxes.
The government supported the diversification of exports
through the Dominican Center for Export Promotion (Centro
Dominicano de Pronoción de Exportaciones--Cedopex).
Although
established in 1971, Cedopex had a minimal economic role
until
the 1980s, when the country began to move from import
substitution toward export promotion. An important
foundation of
that policy was the Export Incentive Law of 1979 (Law 69),
which
afforded duty-free entry of imported inputs for exporters
and
provided certain foreign-exchange benefits. In the first
five
years that Cedopex administered Law 69, businesses
exported 275
new products as a result of the legislation. This number
rose
considerably after 1984 with the passage of the CBI, the
signing
of bilateral textile agreements with the United States,
and the
designation of a series of new free zones. Cedopex also
extended
conventional investment promotion services, such as market
research, overseas promotion of new products, and investor
guidance to government regulations. Despite these advances
in
export promotion, some economists pointed to the continued
use of
export taxes and the outright prohibition of certain
exports,
mainly staple foods, as disincentives to improved export
performance.
Dominican imports reached an unprecedented US$1.55
billion in
1987. Even more alarming than the country's unparalleled
trade
deficit, however, was its inability to reduce import
demand even
as oil prices fell during the late 1980s. Oil's share of
total
imports, as high as 61 percent in 1980 after the
disruptions of
the 1970s, declined to a manageable 24 percent by 1987.
Non-oil
imports mounted, however, thereby ravaging the country's
balance
of payments and leaving the nation vulnerable in the event
of
another oil price increase. In order of importance, other
imports
included intermediate, consumer, and capital goods. A
large
percentage of increased imports in the late 1980s was
dedicated
to public sector projects pursued for both economic and
political
reasons. The country drew an increasing share of its total
imports from developed countries; this figure grew from 62
percent in 1981 to 78 percent in 1987. The United States
was the
major supplier, providing 55 percent of imports, followed
by
Japan with 11 percent, and West Germany and Canada with 2
percent
each. Developing countries contributed only 22 percent.
This
consisted primarily of oil imports originating in
Venezuela and
Mexico.
The government's import policies in the 1980s continued
to
endorse steep tariff protection for local industry, and
only
limited import liberalization was achieved. In the late
1980s,
the country banned more than 100 imports, mostly
agro-industrial
products, and some tariffs reached 350 percent. Moreover,
successive Dominican governments used import tariffs as a
political tool to reward powerful constituents. Excessive
public
sector imports and exchange-rate subsidies for certain
parastatals exacerbated the import crisis in the late
1980s.
The republic's other trade policies consisted of
securing
markets for traditional and nontraditional exports through
bilateral agreements, such as the United States sugar
quota
agreement, the United States General System of
Preferences, the
CBI, and the
807 program (see Glossary),
as well as
international
agreements for coffee, cocoa, and other products. For many
years,
the Dominican Republic unsuccessfully attempted to become
a
member of the Caribbean Community and Common Market
(Caricom) and the
Lomé Convention (see Glossary)
of the European
Economic
Community. Although the country had achieved observer
status in
both, full participation continued to be unlikely because
Dominican exports competed directly with those of other
members.
Data as of December 1989
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