Spanish
Only the years 2003 and 2020, in the last 30 years, recorded lower growth than 2025, the year in which the Dominican economy grew by 2.1% as of November, according to preliminary data.
Other years with low growth were 2009, a year in which the economy grew only 1% amid a global financial crisis, but subsequent reports indicated that real growth was 3.5%. In 2001 it was (2.5%), and in 2023 (2.4%).
In 2003, the Dominican economy registered a negative growth of -1.3%, a result of the financial system crisis, which erupted at the end of the first quarter and involved global financial assistance for the dissolution of Banco Intercontinental, S.A. and the sale of Bancrédito and Banco Mercantil, generating a loss of confidence among economic agents.
This in turn degenerated into a growing process of currency substitution and capital flight, fueling a sustained depreciation of the Dominican peso.
The result was a growth of -0.4% in real terms, which is a much more favorable result than those considered in the Stabilization Program, which estimated a fall of -3% in its original version and -1.3% in its revised version.
The other major contraction faced by the Dominican economy was in 2020, when it fell by -7.9% compared to the previous year, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, the temporary closure of most commercial activities, and the decline in tourism, exports, and tax revenues.
Another difficult year for the Dominican economy was 2009, a product of the global crisis that generated significant levels of economic decline worldwide, which affected the United States, Europe, Japan, and Latin America despite the unprecedented incentive package to alleviate a crisis that could have been similar to the Great Depression caused by the financial crash of 1929.
According to data from the Central Bank and the World Bank, in 2009 the Dominican economy grew by 1% that year, however, subsequent reports from the Central Bank itself and the then Secretary of Economy, Planning and Development, Temístocles Montás, indicated that the growth of that year was 3.5%, who described that growth as a success in that context.
