LatinNews Daily - 21 October 2024

*The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader has announced the withdrawal of a fiscal reform proposal that was announced on 7 October. In a video address, Abinader stated that his government was “convinced of the need for a structural change that would reduce dependence on foreign debt and increase our capacity to finance solutions to our problems of security, drinking water, electricity, health and transport, and to eliminate distortions and privileges”. Abinader said that it would not be easy to solve these problems if the Dominican Republic continued to be one of the countries with “the lowest tax collection and one of the lowest public expenditures in Latin America”. However, the president said that after listening to the “concerns, reservations and worries” of various sectors and understanding that the fiscal reform proposal “does not have the necessary consensus to be approved”, his government has decided to “request the immediate withdrawal of the project” from the congressional agenda. Abinader, who took office for a second consecutive term on 16 August, said that withdrawing the project would mean “adjusting the scope of the development plans we had proposed and building acceptable alternatives to achieve the Dominican Republic we want”. Fiscal reform is one of the priorities of Abinader’s second term, along with a proposed constitutional reform package.