Hotels, bars and restaurants increased 10.6% in February 2024

Santo Domingo – The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported the preliminary results of the economic activity of last February 2024.

Hotels, bars, and restaurants showed an inter-annual variation of 12.8% in February of this year, accumulating an expansion of 10.6% from January to February 2024.

This remarkable performance was largely supported by the arrival of passengers by air, which reached 1,498,061 tourists. Together with the reception of 602,985 cruise passengers, this totaled 2,101,046 visitors in that period.

Likewise, the consolidated credit portfolio directed to the sector increased by 12.5% compared to February 2023.

The monthly economic activity indicator (IMAE) registered an expansion of 6.2 % during February of this year, higher than the 4.6 % observed in January, thus accumulating an average year-on-year growth of 5.4 % in the first two months of 2024, continuing with the growing trend that the economy has been exhibiting in recent months.

Finally, most economic activities registered a positive performance in the first two months of 2024, except Mining, whose 15.9 % drop is explained mainly by the cessation of operations of the ferronickel extraction company since December 2023.

Likewise, the slowdown in the gold and silver extraction process has affected the activity’s performance due to the readjustment plan of the facilities required for the continuity of the mining activity in the country’s main deposit. This process is expected to normalize in the next few months of this year, regularizing production levels.