Economy of the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo is the capital and financial center of the Dominican Republic | |
| Currency | 1 Dominican Peso (RD$) = 100 Centavos |
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| Calendar year | |
Trade organizations | WTO, CAFTA-DR |
Country group |
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| Statistics | |
| GDP |
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| GDP rank | |
GDP growth |
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GDP per capita |
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GDP per capita rank | |
GDP by sector | agriculture: 5.5%; industry: 33.8%; services: 60.8% (2017 est.) |
| 3.564% (2018) | |
Population below poverty line | 30.5% (2016 est) 23.9% (2021 est) |
| 38.5 medium (2021) | |
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Labor force | 5.278 million (2022 est.) |
Labor force by occupation | agriculture: 14.6%; industry: 22.3%; services: 63.1% (2005) |
| Unemployment | 7.1% (2022 est.) |
Main industries | ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco, and sugar production, tourism |
| External | |
| Exports | $11 billion (2019 est.) |
Export goods | ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, meats, consumer goods |
Main export partners | United States 50.8% Haiti 11.8% Switzerland 10% India 7.5% Canada 6.2% (2017 est.) |
| Imports | $20 billion (2019 est.) |
Import goods | foodstuffs, petroleum, cotton and fabrics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals |
Main import partners | United States 44.7% China 14.2% Mexico 8.3% Brazil 6.5% Chile 4.7% (2017 est.) |
FDI stock | $42 billion (31 December 2019 est.) |
Gross external debt | $29.69 billion (31 December 2017 est.) |
| Public finances | |
| 37.7% of GDP (2017 est.) | |
| $14.5 billion (March 2022 est.) | |
| Revenues | $14.10 billion (2021 est.) |
| Expenses | $16.60 billion (2021 est.) |
| BB− (Domestic) BB− (Foreign) BB (T&C Assessment) (Standard & Poor's) | |
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars. | |
The economy of the Dominican Republic is the seventh largest in Latin America, and is the largest in the Caribbean and Central American region. The Dominican Republic is an upper-middle income developing country with important sectors including mining, tourism, manufacturing (medical devices, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals), energy, real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications and agriculture. The Dominican Republic is on track to achieve its goal of becoming a high-income country by 2030, and is expected to grow 79% in this decade. The country is the site of the single largest gold mine in Latin America, the Pueblo Viejo mine. Although the service sector is currently the leading employer of Dominicans (due principally to growth in tourism and free-trade zones), agriculture remains an important sector in terms of the domestic market and is in second place (behind mining) in terms of export earnings.