95% of Chinese businesses in the DR operate without formal regulation, according to entrepreneurs

Santiago.- Around 95% of Chinese businesses in the Dominican Republic operate irregularly, which has been described as a form of unfair competition that negatively affects the sales of formal commerce.

This was denounced this Thursday by the business leader Iván García, who requested the urgent intervention of the Government to stop these practices, which, according to him, have caused the closure of numerous commercial establishments in different areas of the country.

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García indicated that this data comes from a nationwide study conducted by the Dominican Federation of Merchants (FDC), which revealed the existence of more than 2,000 Asian establishments distributed throughout the national territory. “95% of those businesses are not registered with the Social Security Treasury (TSS), do not issue fiscal receipts, and do not accept credit card payments, which allows them to operate outside the obligations of formal commerce,” the leader denounced. He also highlighted that only 5% of Chinese businesses are properly regulated, which, in his opinion, represents a disadvantage for local commerce. “While formal companies face labor costs of around 60.4%, these informal businesses operate without any legal or fiscal burden,” he explained. García lamented that, although on some occasions the authorities have proceeded with the closure of illegal businesses, many of these reopen a few days later “as if nothing had happened”. He warned that this proliferation of informal businesses represents a serious concern for the FDC, which has already raised its voice before the corresponding organizations, without obtaining effective responses so far.