Dominican Republic Location:
18°30'N, 69°59'W
Dominican Republic Geography:
The capital of the country is the city of Santo Domingo (full name Santo Domingo de Guzmán) located in the southern part of the island. Originally a single city located within the province Distrito Nacional (National District), it has now been divided into the Province of Santo Domingo and the National District. The Province of Santo Domingo is comprised of several municipalities: Santo Domingo Norte (North Santo Domingo), Santo Domingo Este (East Santo Domingo, which is the provincial capital), Santo Domingo Oeste (West Santo Domingo) and Boca Chica. The Ozama River serves a natural border between the National District and the Province of Santo Domingo. Thus the capital city of the country is the city of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Province of National District. The second largest city is Santiago de los Caballeros, more commonly referred to as simply Santiago.
The country has three major mountain ranges: the Central Mountains (Cordillera Central), which originate in Haiti and span the central part of the island, ending in the south. This mountain range boasts the highest peak in the Antilles, Pico Duarte (3,087 m / 10,128 ft above sea level). The Septentrional Mountains, running parallel to the Central Mountains, separate the Cibao Valley and the Atlantic coastal plains. The highest point in this range is Pico Diego de Ocampo. The lowest and shortest of the three ranges is the Eastern Mountains, in the eastern part of the country. Other mountains include the Sierra Bahoruco and the Sierra Neyba in the southwest.
The Dominican Republic has many rivers, including the navigable Soco, Higuamo, Romana (also known as 'Rio Dulce'), Yaque del Norte, Yaque del Sur, Yuna River, Yuma, and Bajabonico. Puerto Plata's Mount Isabela is infamous for the Cuban airplane that crashed there in 1992 . The two largest islands near shore are Saona Island in the southeast and Beata Island in the southwest. To the north, at a distance between 100 and 200 km, are three extensive, largely submerged banks, which geographically are a southeast continuation of the Bahamas.
Dominican Republic People:
Population
- July 2006 estimate 9,183,984 (87th)
- 2002 census 8,562,541
- Density 182 /km2 (58th)
474 /sq mi
Dominican Republic Government:
Government Presidential Republic
- President Leonel Fernández
Dominican Republic Communication:
The Dominican Republic is the number one country in the Caribbean in the communications sector. They have extensive mobile phone services and land-line services. The telecommunications regulator in the country is INDOTEL, Instituto Dominicano De Telecomunicaciones. The Dominican Republic offers cable internet and DSL in most parts of the country, and many ISPs provide 3G wireless internet service. Projects to extend Wi-Fi hot spots have been made in Santo Domingo. Numerous television channels are available, including Digital cable Telecable Nacional and Aster. Many other companies provide digital television services with channels from Latin America and the World.
As of December 2006, there are five major communication companies: CODETEL, Orange, Tricom, Centennial, and DGTEC
On February 1, 2007, Verizon changed the names of its wireless services to Claro and CODETEL. The company has been owned since 2006 by Carlos Slim Helú's América Móvil. Claro is now the official name of the Wireless Division and CODETEL (the original Compañia Dominicana de Teléfonos) is the updated name for the Verizon Dominicana fixed-line and broadband market.
While there are a number of phone services, there is virtually no postal service, due to the fact that the government does not work with the organization "INPOSDOM" to offer a mailing service to its population.
Dominican Republic Economy:
The Dominican Republic is a middle-income developing country 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. Tourism accounts for more than $1.3 billion in annual earnings. Free Trade Zone earnings and tourism are the fastest-growing export sectors. Remittances ("remesas") from Dominicans living abroad are estimated to be about $1.3 billion per year.
Following economic turmoil in the late 1980s and 1990, during which the GDP fell by up to 5% and consumer price inflation reached an unprecedented 100%, the Dominican Republic entered a period of moderate growth and declining inflation until 2002 after which the economy entered a recession. This recession followed the collapse of the second commercial bank of the country (Baninter), linked to a major incident of fraud valued at 3.5 billion dollars during the administration of President Hipolito Mejia (2000-2004). The Baninter fraud had a devastating effect on the Dominican economy, with GDP dropped by 1% in 2003 while inflation ballooned by over 27%. The growth of the Dominican economy remains significantly hampered by an ongoing energy shortage, which causes frequent blackouts and high prices.
Despite a widening merchandise trade deficit, tourism earnings and remittances have helped build foreign exchange reserves. The Dominican Republic is current on foreign private debt, and has agreed to pay arrears of about $130 million to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation.
According to the 2005 Annual Report of the United Nations Subcommittee on Human Development in the Dominican Republic, the country is ranked #71 in the world for resource availability, # 94 for human development, and #14 in the world for resource mismanagement. These statistics emphasize national government corruption, foreign economic interference in the country, and the rift between the rich and poor.
In the Trimestrial period of Jan-May 2007 the Dominican Economy experienced a exceptional growth of 9.1% in it's GDP slighly lower than last years period by 1%. DR-CAFTA(trade agreement) and the Foreign Investment have been one that given great opportunity to the Dominican economy..[18]
The Dominican Republic has become transshipment point for South American drugs to Europe as well as the United States and Canada. [11] . Money laundering is favored by Colombia via Dominican Republic for the ease of illicit financial transactions. [12]
Dominican Republic More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic | 
