Economy - overview:
The Dominican Republic has enjoyed strong GDP growth since 2005, and continued to post sound gains through mid-2008. The global recession, however, had a significant impact on GDP growth in the latter half of the year as tourism and remittances, two of the Dominican Republic's most important economic contributors, showed signs of slowing. The economy is highly dependent upon the US, the source of nearly three-fourths of exports, and remittances represent about a tenth of GDP, equivalent to almost half of exports and three-quarters of tourism receipts. The country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, but in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. Although 2007 saw inflation rates averaging around 6%, inflation rates in 2008 grew to over 11% on average for the first 3 quarters. High food prices, driven by the effects of consecutive tropical storms on agricultural products, and education prices were significant contributors to the jump. The effects of the global financial crisis and the US recession are projected to negatively affect GDP growth in 2009, with a rebound expected in 2010. Although the economy is growing at a respectable rate, high unemployment and underemployment remains an important challenge. 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. The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) came into force in March 2007, which should boost investment and exports and reduce losses to the Asian garment industry.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$77.43 billion (2008 est.)
$74.1 billion (2007)
$68.29 billion (2006)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate):
$45.69 billion (2008 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4.5% (2008 est.)
8.5% (2007 est.)
10.7% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita:
$8,100 (2008 est.)
$7,900 (2007 est.)
$7,400 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 23.5%
services: 65.2% (2008 est.)

Labor force:
4.119 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 14.6%
industry: 22.3%
services: 63.1% (2005)

Unemployment rate:
15.4% (2008 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 41.1% (2004)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
49.9 (2005)

Investment (gross fixed):
19.6% of GDP (2008 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $7.947 billion
expenditures: $9.069 billion (2008 est.)

Public debt:
39.1% of GDP (2008 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
12.2% (2008 est.)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:
15.83% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:
$4.074 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:
$5.631 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:
$15.92 billion (31 December 2007)

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$NA

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:
3.2% (2008 est.)

Electricity - production:
13.37 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - consumption:
11.81 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2007 est.)

Oil - production:
12 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - consumption:
117,300 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Oil - exports:
0 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports:
116,600 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves:
NA bbl

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
250 million cu m (2006 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
239.8 million cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
-$4.23 billion (2008 est.)

Exports:
$7.17 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Exports - commodities:
ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, meats, consumer goods

Exports - partners:
US 66.4%, Belgium 3.7%, Finland 3.2% (2007)

Imports:
$16.02 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, petroleum, cotton and fabrics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals

Imports - partners:
US 46%, Venezuela 8.1%, Mexico 5.9%, Colombia 4.7% (2007)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$2.162 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Debt - external:
$11.7 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$14.75 billion (2008 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$59 million (2008 est.)