Dominican Republic

Country Characteristics

The Dominican Republic's political system saw transformation in 1996 after the government scheduled another presidential election following pressure from the international community which had questioned the integrity of the 1994 election results. Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) initiated bold reforms to promote both political stability and investor confidence. PLD won a large majority once again in the May 2010 elections. Although the global economic crisis did not affect the economy, it still brought down the economic growth rate to 3.5% in 2009. However, according to the IMF, the economy is expected to again post a healthy growth rate of 6% by the end of 2010. The services sector dominates the economy and contributes around 65.2% to the country's GDP. The major subsector of the services industry is tourism and other hospitality services. The delivery of healthcare services in the Dominican Republic is managed through the public healthcare system and the private healthcare system. A Social Insurance Scheme (SIS) is managed by the government through the Dominican Institute of Social Insurance, and is funded jointly by employers and employees. The Dominican Republic has made very little progress in science and technology since reform began in the 1990s. Lack of R&D activity in the Dominican Republic is reflected in a meager R&D expenditure, equaling 0.2% of GDP in 2007-08; in addition, ICT and high-tech exports account for less than 1% of the country's manufactured exports (Nationalmaster.com, pp. 37).

Physical size of the country and its population (How fast is it growing?)

The Caribbean, eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Haiti.

Size of the economy by GDP (expressed in PPP terms)

Dominican Republic can be regarded as the lower-middle income economy. From the period of 1991 to 2000 the economy of the country is growing at about 7% on an average. From the period of 2004 to 2007 the economy is growing at an average of 7.5%. In 2011, the GDP of the Dominican Republic in terms of purchasing power parity is estimated to be around $ 93,230,000,000 (indexmudi.com, pp. A-1).

Wealth of the people by GDP/capita (expressed in PPP terms)

Economic disparity remains a key issue in the country. On the Gini coefficient, which ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality), Dominican Republic was indexed at 0.49 in 2008. Poverty has remained high in Dominican Republic and presently, almost 25% of the population lives below the poverty line (CIA, pp. A-4).

Is your country rich in resources important to its development?

Natural gas, electricity and oil are considered as the most important resources for a country. The government of Dominican Republic has problems with the electricity sector. If we consider the production of electricity by Dominican Republic and compare it with the electricity production of different countries of the world then we can find this country in the middle. Electricity production of Dominican Republic over the years is as follows:

As far as the oil production is concerned in ...