Preliminary figures from the Central Bank for the January-April 2026 period reveal a gap that concerns the Dominican commercial sector: while the economy grew by an average of 4.0% in that period, commerce only advanced 1.7%, making formal merchants one of the least dynamic activities within the monthly economic activity indicator (IMAE).
Ernesto Martínez, president of the National Organization of Commercial Enterprises, ONEC, indicated that this behavior does not respond to cyclical economic factors, but rather to an unequal competitive environment, where formal commerce competes with actors that do not face the same tax, labor, and regulatory obligations.
For the ONEC, these distortions have implications that transcend the cyclical performance of the sector. If current conditions are maintained, formal commerce will have a limited capacity to contribute to the goal of growth, formalization, investment, and the generation of productive job positions proposed by the 2036 Goal.
“We believe in competition, as that benefits people, but we must compete on equal terms, with fairness,” the entity pointed out.
He explained that the commerce sector is the largest generator of formal employment in the Dominican private sector, with more than 400,000 formal jobs and more than 1,000,000 in total; it is the main contributor to the Dominican Social Security System, the second largest contributor to the national treasury, and the second largest in the economy. ONEC brings together the main companies in the sector, generating more than 40,000 direct jobs and contributing 11.4% of tax revenues; these contributions would be higher if the sector operated under conditions of equity among all those competing in the market.
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The ONEC clarified that the trade sector neither demands subsidies nor protectionism, but rather that everyone competes under the same rules. This should imply auditing and shutting down those who evade taxes regardless of their origin, reviewing the treatment of online purchases so as not to disadvantage national e-commerce, requiring moving companies to pay taxes on the value of what they transport, and unifying the tariff treatment of bales with that of formal clothing imports.
“It is not about anything extraordinary,” the institution maintains. “We just have to allow local formal commerce to compete with the same rules of the game.” The ONEC identified the expansion of informal commerce, operated by both Dominicans and foreigners, which in many cases evades tax and labor obligations, as one of the main causes of the pressure on formal commerce.
In that sense, he urged the authorities to apply the regulations with the same rigor to all economic actors, without distinction of origin, nationality, or mode of operation.
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He also pointed out the impact of online purchases from international companies, which have grown at an average annual rate of 20% over the last six years. Between January and April 2026, that segment increased by 29% compared to the same period in 2025, with accumulated imports of 300 million dollars.
“While a Dominican consumer can buy from a foreign platform today without that company paying a single peso in tariffs, local taxes, or labor charges, that same consumer buys from national companies in domestic e-commerce that pay all those obligations. If Dominican e-commerce companies had the same conditions as their international competitors, the sector would grow exponentially,” they indicated.
“We are in favor of internet commerce; we only ask for equal rules,” he pointed out.
