Expert: Keep Delaying CAFTA for DR
Prensa Latina, Cuba
Expert: Keep Delaying CAFTA for DR
21 July 2006
Santo Domingo, Jul 21 (Prensa Latina) Fernando Alvarez Bogaert, former Finances minister, said Friday that the validity of the Central American-Dominican Republic-US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), put off for this month, could wreck national production if enacted.
While begging the government to delay CAFTA, he warned that Dominican producers are unprotected and unable to compete with the US and Central America.
The economist denounced the subsidies the US government gives to their producers, who in 2005 received $150 billion, while the Dominicans lack any State protection.
He stressed that once CAFTA comes into force and low-priced products enter the nation, thousands of growers will go bankrupt because they cannot compete with the foreign prices.
