The economy of the Dominican Republic is vibrant and growing steadily. Currently, attaining a total nominal GDP of $ 112 billion in 2022, the economy is the fourth fastest growing inside the region after accruing a real GDP growth of 12% last year. Accordingly, the services sector including commerce, tourism and free-trade zones accounts for over half of the pie nationwide while agriculture and mining account for 10% of the pie in total between the two of them. The manufacturing sector, on the other hand, accounts for one third of the pie. The latter consists in the fabrication of medical devices, electrical equipment, electronic components, chemicals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, cigars and rum distillation servicing the domestic market as well as output geared towards the export market. Overall, the country reports commercial exchanges between exports and imports that amount to just over $ 30 billion a year worth of trade with the US capturing a share of about half of total exports from the Latin American and Caribbean nation exceeding $ 14 billion annually after being the most important trading partner the Dominican Republic has. Altogether, the Dominican Republic recorded a trade deficit of slightly less than $ 2 billion in 2022 and a current account deficit of slightly over $ 2 billion in 2022 as well. In fact, from remittances from the mainland in the US with inflows of $ 10 billion reported for 2022 alone according to Statista to the arrival of American tourist visitors and the sugar business, the Dominican Republic and the US maintain a very healthy relationship of mutual benefit after being excellent trading partners. The sugar business, in particular, is vital for both countries with America being by far the single largest recipient of raw and refined sugar the Dominican Republic exports to foreign markets. One sugar industry player alone, for instance, known as Central Romana Corporation Limited is the biggest private employer in the country and the most important foreign direct investment the nation has. This privately-held agro-industrial and tourism conglomerate is controlled by the low-profile and well-connected Cuban-American Fanjul brothers. It employs approximately 30,000 Dominicans and comprises vast sugarcane plantations, a bagasse-fired power plant, a railroad, sugar mills, sugar refineries, cattle ranches, meatpacking operations, seaport terminal operations, a shipyard, a dairy business, an iron foundry, a construction aggregates enterprise and a private airport in the city of La Romana. On the tourism side, the conglomerate also has a private marina, hotel rooms, hotel suites, restaurants, bars, shops, beauty salons, boutiques, stables, private villas, time-share properties, golf courses, sporting and equestrian facilities in La Romana as well known as “Casa de Campo”. Nevertheless, the biggest hospitality operator in the republic is known as Grupo Puntacana S.A. and focuses on the main seaside resort destination countrywide known as Punta Cana. The latter is partly responsible for the growth of this destination after developing crucial infrastructure such as the international airport itself servicing Punta Cana. The company is owned completely by prominent local hotelier Frank Rainieri. Overall, tourism employs over 70,000 Dominican nationals directly on top of 130,000 indirectly for a total of 200,000 workers employed in the sector and over 6 million foreign tourist visitor arrivals per year. Free-trade zones, on the other hand, employ roughly the same figure of 200,000 Dominican nationals.
Moreover, the commodities sector comprising agriculture and mining accounts for 10% of economic output and 20% of active employment. On the agriculture side, the country is currently the single largest net exporter of papaya, second largest net exporter of avocado, among the ten largest net exporters of sugar and among the ten largest net exporters of bananas worldwide. Other crops cultivated, harvested and exported from the republic include orange, cassava, coconut, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, palm oil, rice and pineapple. Altogether, the Dominican Republic produced back in the 2018 harvest 1 million tons of papaya, 664 thousand tons of avocado, 545 thousand metric tons of sugar and 2.1 million tons of bananas among the major crops where the nation has important market positions. On the mining side, on the other hand, the country is known for having huge deposits of nickel, bauxite, platinum, copper, amber, lignite, gold and silver. Likewise, the Dominican Republic has abundant deposits of rock salt as well as construction materials including gypsum, limestone, marble, sand and gravel. In fact, one notorious development in this sector worth mentioning is a gold mine known as “Pueblo Viejo” presently producing 800 thousand ounces of gold a year while having over 6 million ounces of the said precious metal in its proven reserves and after being the fifth biggest operation globally of its kind known to players in the mining field since the times of Spanish conquest. The latter is a prominent foreign direct investment on Dominican soil after being a joint mining concession shared by Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and the precious metals mining American multinational known as Newmont Corporation. Nevertheless, the mining of bauxite is currently halted nationwide after causing issues dealing with deforestation, depletion of reserves and environmental protection concerns. In addition, the country is self-sufficient in its meat consumption and imports only animal feed instead. Similarly, the country its self-sufficient in its electricity consumption including a sizable share from renewable sources and imports fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, coal, liquified petroleum gas, liquified natural gas and propane gas.
Furthermore, the manufacturing sector is responsible for one third of GDP and a similar share of active employment. One segment worth emphasizing is rum distillation. Currently, the Dominican Republic is the fifth largest net exporter of rum on the planet and the biggest of them all from Latin America and the Caribbean according to Statista. Accordingly, the biggest player nationally is a privately-held multinational known as Ron Barceló S.R.L. Presently, the company is controlled by a group of Spanish businessmen with the two Dominican founding families, namely the Barceló Díaz and García families, remaining minority shareholders while holding seats on the board. Ron Barceló owns the second biggest portfolio of brands globally in terms of dollar revenues recorded at $ 2.85 billion in 2021 according to Zippia Corporation and trailing only the leader of rum making worldwide known as Bacardi Limited. Another important rum distillery worth mentioning representing a foreign direct investment after having being acquired by a British multinational from Scotland is Brugal & Co., S.A. Overall, the Dominican Republic is the strongest country of them all from the Caribbean in this segment and ahead of countries such as Cuba itself. Accordingly, Cuba suffers enormously from the embargo placed by the US since the times when the late Fidel Castro seized power forcibly on the island during the Cuban Revolution establishing a Marxist state and allying himself with the former Soviet Union.
On the other hand, another prominent area where foreign direct investments are vigorous is real estate. In fact, one foreign developer that stands out currently building massive properties from indoor malls to hotels is Fondo de Valores Inmobiliarios S.A.C.A, a well-known listed Venezuelan concern controlled by the Velutini family of Venezuela and entirely focused on prime real estate. In addition, the privately-held Venezuelan holding of companies known as the Organización Cisneros S.A. is planning on building an ambitious eco-friendly seaside resort complex known as “Tropicalia” in the town of Miches located at an hour-drive distance from Punta Cana in the Samaná Bay. Moreover, the Dominican Republic has a poverty rate of close to a quarter of its entire population today, well below the Latin American average now reported at 40%. Likewise, the unemployment rate is just 9% and its GINI coefficient of 0.43 for income distribution is also below the Latin American average of 0.49 nowadays.
To conclude, the Dominican economy is growing robustly after having attained a GDP per capita of close to $ 25 thousand a year when adjusted for purchasing power parity or PPP and over $ 250 billion as a whole in total today when adjusted for PPP also. Presently, the public debt stands at 50% of GDP having decreased from a peak of 58% of GDP before the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. In similar fashion, the country possesses over $ 14 billion in its Forex reserves held by the Central Bank making the public debt service sustainable for the foreseeable future. By the same token, the public finances are sound with revenues of over $ 15 billion a year and expenditures of just barely over $ 16 billion a year reported for 2022, a fiscal deficit of only 3% with the same target for 2023. In fact, the country now has a BB sovereign credit rating by Standard and Poor’s and a Ba3 sovereign credit rating by Moody’s Investors Service, both of them assigning the economy a stable outlook. Accordingly, the Dominican economy has dynamism in its soul and expected to be ranked as a high-income economy by the World Bank Group according to most Dominican economists early in the next decade with total foreign debt commitments currently standing at only $ 30 billion or roughly 25% of GDP. Altogether, this economy has minted eight fortunes reaching the half a billion-dollar mark including the Vicini family in the sugar business, the Grullón family in banking, Frank Rainieri in tourism, Miguel Barletta in car dealerships, Spanish-Dominican José Luis Corripio in the media business and commerce, Manuel Estrella in cement, Carlos José Martí in the gas station business and propane gas distribution and Spanish-Dominican Román Ramos in retail and real estate development.