The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic’s governor, Héctor Valdez Albizu, met with Morgan Stanley executives and provided an update on the Dominican Republic’s economic and monetary conditions and the central bank’s baseline outlook for 2025. The central bank expects activity to regain momentum once international uncertainty dissipates, with GDP growth projected around 4.0%–4.5%, while inflation is forecast to stay within the 4% ± 1% target range. Valdez Albizu cited GDP growth of 5.0% in 2024, with output up 5.4% year on year in March 2025 and 2.7% year on year over January–March 2025. Headline inflation stood at 3.58% year on year in March 2025 and core inflation at 4.24%, with forecasting models keeping both measures within target through 2025 and 2026. For the external sector, the central bank projected foreign-currency generation of about USD 45.7bn in 2025 (USD 43.8bn in 2024), a current-account deficit narrowing to 3.0% of GDP financed by around USD 4.7bn of foreign direct investment, and international reserves above USD 15bn, about 12% of GDP and roughly five months of imports. On regulation and macroprudential policy, the central bank pointed to amendments to its Operational Risk Regulation under Basel Pillar I and changes to its User Protection Regulation intended to reduce fees and support financial inclusion. It also confirmed approval for the start of mark-to-market accounting from 1 January 2026, which will be accompanied by adjustments to regulations covering liquidity risk and market risk.

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