{"id":500977,"date":"2026-02-25T20:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/ng-cortinas-there-is-more-money-in-the-government-but-less-in-peoples-pockets\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T20:00:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:00:41","slug":"ng-cortinas-there-is-more-money-in-the-government-but-less-in-peoples-pockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/ng-cortinas-there-is-more-money-in-the-government-but-less-in-peoples-pockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Ng Corti\u00f1as: \u201cThere is more money in the Government, but less in people’s pockets\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"Santo Domingo.<\/strong> \u2014 Economist Haivanjoe Ng Cortinas presented in advance his economic reading prior to President Luis Abinader’s accountability, through a “counter economic accountability”, in which he reinterprets the official data from the daily lives of Dominican households.\n\n“Holding ourselves accountable from the tables of homes and from the pockets of the people is the best way to understand what happened in 2025, very different from doing it from the National Assembly Hall,” he expressed.\n\n\n

Low growth and weak economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nNg Corti\u00f1as described the economic performance of 2025 as low and weak, after registering a growth of just 2.1%, well below the historical average of around 5.5% and the estimated potential of around 5%.\n\n\n
We recommend reading: Ng Corti\u00f1as proposes turning tension with Chinese entrepreneurs into an investment opportunity<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\nHe pointed out that this growth was insufficient to generate quality jobs and real increases in income, maintaining high levels of informality and an economy in a state of productive underutilization.\n\nHe indicated that key sectors showed limited performance, such as manufacturing (1.6%), construction (-1.8%), and services (2.7%), which directly impacted the population’s quality of life.\n\nHe added that, although the external sector generated US$47.3 billion \u2014the highest level in history\u2014, that record did not translate into internal dynamism. “In 2025, there was no lack of dollars; what was lacking was an economic policy capable of converting them into production, employment, and well-being,” he maintained.\n\n\n

Inflation that hits the poor the hardest<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nOverall inflation closed at 4.95%, close to the upper limit of the target range. However, inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages reached 8.2%, almost double.\n\nHe explained that low- and middle-income households spend more than 35% of their expenditure on food, so their real inflation was closer to 8% than the national average. “It was a regressive inflation that punished those who have the least the most,” he said.\n\n\n

Income That Doesn’t Suffice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nAccording to the National Continuous Labor Force Survey (ENCFT), the average hourly income increased by around 2% nominally in 2025. However, after discounting for inflation, the real wage fell by nearly 3% using general inflation and more than 6% when considering food inflation.\n\n“In 2025, more hours were worked to buy fewer things,” he indicated, pointing out workdays of up to 45 hours per week with incomes between RD$70 and RD$90 per hour in many cases.\n\n\n

More liquidity, less well-being<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nThe economist highlighted that the money held by the public grew 14.9% in 2025, well above the GDP growth and labor income (2%).\n\n“The economy had more liquidity, but not more well-being,” he maintained, explaining that the increase in money was concentrated in large companies, financial intermediation, and higher-income strata.\n\n\n

More public spending, but less growth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nNg Corti\u00f1as pointed out that the Government executed close to RD$1.49 trillion in 2025, the highest level of public spending in recent history. However, that increase did not translate into greater economic growth.\n\nHe detailed that current spending represented around 87% of the total, while capital expenditure barely reached 13%, limiting productive public investment.\n\nHe added that the fiscal deficit closed at around 3.2% of GDP. “There was more public spending, but little transformative; more resources in the State, but without a proportional impact on the well-being of households,” he stated.\n\n\n

Heaviest Public Debt<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nThe total public debt went from US$57,587 million in December 2024 to US$61,549 million in December 2025, an increase of nearly US$4,000 million.\n\nYou can also read:\n\nThe debt pressure on the economy increased from 46.3% to 47.9% of GDP. In addition, RD$301,736 million was allocated to interest payments in 2025, equivalent to 20.2% of total public spending.\n\n“One in every five pesos of the budget didn’t reach the people; it went to pay debt,” he emphasized.\n\n\n

Stability in numbers, pressure in homes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nNg Corti\u00f1as concluded that in 2025 there was macroeconomic stability in the indicators, but a setback in the daily life of the population.\n\n“Prices grew faster than income, employment did not guarantee well-being, and economic policy prioritized financial stability over shared prosperity. The economy may look orderly in the indicators, but disordered in households,” he concluded.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santo Domingo. \u2014 Economist Haivanjoe Ng Cortinas presented in advance his economic reading prior to President Luis Abinader’s accountability, through a “counter economic accountability”, in which he reinterprets the official data from the daily lives of Dominican households. “Holding ourselves accountable from the tables of homes and from the pockets of the people is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-26kh","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","dum_api":{"author_name":"Yerandi Santana","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-13-at-5.35.07-PM-96x96.jpeg","categories_name":["Uncategorized"],"featured_media_url":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}