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Dominican Republic: Countries
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The Dominican Republic is a mountainous country with several areas of lowland plains. Plains along the southeastern coast are chiefly used for growing sugar. Sugar has long been the country’s chief product and chief export. Today, manufacturing and tourism ... contribute to the country’s economy, but most of the people remain poor. The economy is vulnerable to world food prices and also to the hurricanes that periodically strike the country. Because of poverty, unemployment, and economic instability, many Dominicans have chosen to leave their country and seek a better life elsewhere.
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The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean representative democracy that enjoyed strong GDP growth until 2003. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. Growth turned negative in 2003 with reduced tourism, a major bank fraud, and limited growth in the US economy (the source of about 80% of export revenues), but recovered in 2004-06. With the help of strict fiscal targets agreed in the 2004 renegotiation of an IMF standby loan, President FERNANDEZ has stabilized the country's financial situation. Although the economy continues to grow at a respectable rate, high unemployment and inflation remain important challenges. 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.
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The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean representative democracy which enjoyed GDP growth of more than 7% in 1998-2000. Growth subsequently plummeted as part of the global economic slowdown. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. 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. Growth turned negative in 2003 with reduced tourism, a major bank fraud, and limited growth in the US economy (the source of about 85% of export revenues), but recovered slightly in 2004. Resumption of a badly needed IMF loan, slowed due to government repurchase of electrical power plants, is basic to the restoration of social and economic stability.
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The Dominican Republic is a country located on the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, bordering Haiti. Hispaniola is the second-largest of the Greater Antilles islands, and lies west of Puerto Rico and east of Cuba and Jamaica. The Dominican Republic is not to be confused with Dominica, another Caribbean country. Once dependent on the export of sugar and other agricultural products, the DR has become the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean. Tourism, and free-trade zones, have become major employers and key sources of revenue.
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The Dominican Republic has a long and turbulent history, with enough milestones to make for a crowded holiday calendar and enough “firsts†to fill a page in an almanac. (Among them is having the first European settlements in the New World, established by Christopher Columbus and his brother Bartholomew.) The island has played a pivotal role in the development of the Caribbean for more than five centuries, with ample of blood and treasure spilled along the way. The Dominican national character has been shaped by centuries of colonialism, political and economic turmoil, outside invasions, civil wars, and racial divisions. Remarkably, the country has now entered a phase of comparative stability.
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The Dominican Republic is a fertile, well-watered, mountainous country. About 80 percent of the country is covered with a series of massive mountain ranges. They run roughly parallel and cross the country from the northwest to the southeast. The highest mountains are known as the Cordillera Central or Cibao Mountains. In the central part of these mountains Pico Duarte rises to 3,175 m (10,417 ft). It is the highest peak in the country and in the West Indies.
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