Dominican Republic

  • Area: 48,730 square kilometres
  • Capital: Santo Domingo
  • Currency: Dominican Republic peso made up of 100 centavos; USD $1 = RD $ 36.77 (at July 2010)
  • Official language: Spanish
  • Population: 9,884,371 (2010)
  • Head of State or Government: Dr. Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna (President) 2008
  • Labour Force: 3,986,000
  • Infant Mortality: 26.93/1000 births
  • GDP: USD $9,539.51 million
  • GDP per capita: USD $983.17
  • GDP growth: 3.5%
  • Inflation: 7.43%
  • Unemployment Rate: 14.4%

About Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic, occupying approximately 74% of the island of Hispaniola which is shared with the Republic of Haiti, separated by a border of approximately 382.8 km in length, and it is the second largest island in the West Indies.

During the first trimester of the year 2010, the Domincan Republic’s economy recorded a 7.5% increase in its GDP, which was sustained by its performance in agricultural and fishing activities (8.4%), services (55.4%) and local manufacture (19.9%), among others. In terms of the overall exportation of goods, including those in the duty-free zones, during the January – March period of the same year, a total of USD $1,418.7 million was recorded, impelled by the increase of minor products (rum, fruits, vegetables and fertilizers) and the great demand of products by Haiti, such as gas, diesel, zinc sheets, wheat flour, fertilizers, biscuits and sausages, among others.

Importations increased to USD $3,376.1 million due to the trend in the importations of crude oil, iron foundry , automobile steel, appliances and refined vegetable oil.