DomRep Gets IMF Disbursement

The IMF says it has completed a second and third review of the stand-by arrangement (SBA) with the Dominican Republic and approved a $249m disbursement. Up to now, total disbursements total about $688m. The SBA was initially approved on November 9 for a total of $1.7bn and the IMF says all benchmarks for the second and third reviews were met. The IMF says the 2011 budget envisages a consolidated fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP, a 1% drop, to be achieved through a reduction in indiscriminate electricity subsidies and a strengthening of tax collections by rationalizing tax exemptions and improving tax administration, targets that are in line with the original program.