Word: ndez
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There are many other parts to Fernández's vision of how to win a better place in a globalized world. Making the rest of the country's economy as competitive as its beaches requires enhancing current strengths as an assembly export platform (more than 500 companies operate from its free-trade zones) and retaining a bigger share of its foreign-investor-dominated tourism industry, which accounts for 12% of the country's $29.1 billion GDP. It also means diversification. The challenge is an urgent one: 80% of the country's 9 million inhabitants are under 40, and 42% live...
...Fernández has a record of delivering. During his first term (1996-2000), the D.R. enjoyed the highest growth rate in the Latin American region. His successor and predecessor, Hipólito Mejía, presided over a banking scandal in 2003 that triggered an economic nosedive that wiped out 20% of GDP (imagine $2.8 trillion disappearing in the U.S.) and plunged an additional 1 million Dominicans into poverty. Since retaking the top job 20 months ago, Fernández has put the country back on the mend, restoring macroeconomic stability and business confidence. Last year's growth soared 9.2%, with single-digit...
...unclear just how much Fernández means to challenge this, even though his Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) is slightly left (but pro-business) and his upbringing quite modest. His mother fled the island to work as a seamstress in a New York City garment factory, which afforded Leonel some formative years in New York City's Upper West Side. To many, Fernández seems more fixated on consolidating power than on advancing his government's ambitious agenda. His government, for example, is spending almost as much building a subway line--$700 million--as it does on education and health together...
...probably too early for unequivocal verdicts, but it seems fair to say that Fernández often appears to be trying to have it both ways. Take the recently concluded free-trade agreement with the U.S. Fernández gets points for pushing the Dominican Congress to go along, but with nearly 90% of its exports going to the U.S., the country really had little choice. And Fernández's party delayed implementation, which allowed a pipeline of infrastructure projects to go to favored contractors without the fuss of open bidding required by the new accord. That includes the subway contract, which...
...going to need dependable power to fulfill Fernández's vision of deploying information technology to leapfrog the country into future-friendly industries. It could not come soon enough. China's hot dragon breath vaporized 20,000 low-skilled jobs in recent years--about 10% of the total in the free-trade zone, necessitating a move up-market. Good telecommunications could make the country suitable for outsourcing, including call centers, but the D.R. is just beginning to train the legions of computer-savvy English speakers it needs to make a dent in swelling youth unemployment. Only 10% of students finish...