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The Dominican Republic has the largest or second largest economy in Central America and the Caribbean. It is a lower middle-income developing country, with a 2007 GDP per capita of $9,208, in PPP terms, which is relatively high in Latin America. In the trimester of January?March 2007 it experienced an exceptional growth of 9.1% in its GDP, which was actually below the previous year’s 10.9% in the same period. Growth was led by imports, followed by exports, with finance and foreign investment the next largest factors. Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the country. The D.R. is primarily dependent on natural resources and government services. Although the service sector has recently overtaken agriculture as the leading employer of Dominicans (due principally to growth in tourism and Free Trade Zones), agriculture remains the most important sector in terms of domestic consumption and is in second place, behind mining, in terms of export earnings. The service sector in general has experienced growth in recent years, as has construction. Free Trade Zone earnings and tourism are the fastest-growing export sectors. Real estate tourism alone accounted for $1.5 billion in earnings for 2007. Remittances from Dominicans living abroad amounted to nearly $3.2 billion in 2007.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE

06/25/09 $1 = 36 DOP