First, the Multi-Fibre Agreement of international textile quotas expired at the beginning of the year, exposing the industry to the full force of cheaper labour competition from Asian countries such as China.
Second, the industry continued to suffer a long-running secular trend. To maintain the business of US fashion manufacturers,
“It’s very important for me,” she says. “I pay for the kids, I pay for the telephone and the light and the water and the cellphone and collective buses and food with it. Everything. It pays for us completely.”
Julio does not enjoy living in the US, she says, and
Tobacco, in the form of premium hand-rolled cigars with an aroma certain to mellow any mood, and cocoa beans processed into velvety chocolate guaranteed to liberate endorphins galore, are giving the Dominican Republic a new reputation.
Amid gently swaying royal palms and green rolling hills 80km northwest of Santo Domingo,
“Confidence in the daily operations of the bank survived because of the way the business elite has covered the deficit with their own resources,” President Fernández told the FT.
Even so Banco del Progreso’s difficulties have been an uncomfortable reminder of the crisis in 2003 at Baninter, then the country’s
“We sometimes pay the bill, but then they usually end up charging us for electricity we’ve not used, so then we go on strike,” says Ms Miranda, a scrum of three children lurking round her feet waiting for supper.
At the other end of the social spectrum, in Santo Domingo’s
Eleven years later, he is still eking out a living on the same batey, or labour encampment, where he arrived, with no money, nine fingers, and a foot-long vertical gash on his chest that has been sewn up like a mailbag.
“Can you help me get a cédula?” he asks,
But they turn out to be far more successful even than the Americans. The two US major leagues, the National League and the American League, elect a “most valuable player” at the end of each season. Last year, Albert Pujols of the St Louis Cardinals won the title for
Gaetan Bucher, a Swiss-Dominican private banker developing the project, is in no doubt about what he is taking on. “Talk about taking on a challenge,” he says. He plans to house a complex built at a cost of more than $600m on a 17 sq km greenfield site at
Even President Leonel Fernández likes to compare the potential of the Samaná area in the north-east with that of Monte Carlo.
It is easy to understand the emphasis. Over the past 25 years the industry has grown apace. Tourist arrivals have soared since charter flights brought long-haul package holidaymakers from