Dominican Republic Economy
Economy - overviewThe Dominican Republic is a Caribbean representative democracy which enjoyed GDP growth of more than 7% in 1998-2000. Growth subsequently plummeted as part of the global economic slowdown. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. The country suffers from marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoys nearly 40% of national income. Growth turned negative in 2003 with reduced tourism, a major bank fraud, and limited growth in the US economy, the source of 87% of export revenues. Resumption of a badly needed IMF loan was slowed due to government repurchase of electrical power plants.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $52.71 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
-0.7% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $6,000 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 10.7%
industry: 31.5%
services: 57.8% (2003)
Investment
19.9% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
25%
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.1%
highest 10%: 37.9% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
47.4 (1998)
Inflation rate
27.5% (2003 est.)
Labor force
2.3 million - 2.6 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 17%, industry 24.3%, services and government 58.7% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate
16.5% (2003 est.)
Budget
revenues: $2.601 billion
expenditures: $3.353 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.1 billion (2003 est.)
Public debt
59.4% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products
sugarcane, coffee, cotton, cocoa, tobacco, rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; cattle, pigs, dairy products, beef, eggs
Industries
tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco
Industrial production growth rate
2% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production
9.186 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
8.543 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
129,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Current account balance
$867 million (2003)
Exports
$5.524 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, meats, consumer goods
Exports - partners
US 83.8%, Canada 1.5%, Haiti 1.5% (2003)
Imports
$7.911 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
foodstuffs, petroleum, cotton and fabrics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals
Imports - partners
US 52.1%, Venezuela 11.9%, Mexico 4.7%, Colombia 4.2% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$261 million (2003)
Debt - external
$6.567 billion (2003 est.)
Currency
Dominican peso (DOP)
Currency code
DOP
Exchange rates
Dominican pesos per US dollar - 30.8307 (2003), 18.6098 (2002), 16.9516 (2001), 16.415 (2000), 16.0331 (1999)
