Page "Economy of the Dominican Republic" Paragraph 4

An important aspect of the Dominican economy is the Free Trade Zone industry ( FTZ ), which made up U. S. $ 4. 55 billion in Dominican exports for 2006 ( 70 % of total exports ).

Reports show, however, that the FTZs lost approximately 60, 000 between 2005 and 2007 and suffered a 4 % decrease in total exports in 2006.

The textiles sector experienced an approximate 17 % drop in exports due in part to the appreciation of the Dominican peso against the dollar, Asian competition following expiration of the quotas of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement, and a government-mandated increase in salaries, which should have occurred in 2005 but was postponed to January 2006.

Lost Dominican business was captured by firms in Central America and Asia.

The tobacco, jewelry, medical, and pharmaceutical sectors in the FTZs all reported increases for 2006, which somewhat offset textile and garment losses.

Industry experts from the FTZs expect that entry into force of the CAFTA-DR agreement will promote substantial growth in the FTZ sector for 2007.