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Barrick Boosts Dominican Republic
Barrick Gold boosts Dominican exports, GDP
and FDI; fact-checking Argentina; illegal software in Latin America.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
The Dominican economy
last year grew by 4.1 percent, in large part helped by the strong increase in
mining exports. In fact, the economy would have only grown by 2.7 percent last
year if the impact of Canada-based Barrick Gold’s Pueblo Viejo mine had been
excluded, according to a new report from Dominican consultancy Analytica.
Meanwhile, without
Barrick Pueblo Viejo, Dominican exports last year would have decreased by 5
percent instead of growing by 5.8 percent, the report estimates.
“The report clearly
demonstrates with hard facts the significant and positive impact the Barrick
Pueblo Viejo has made, is making, and will continue to make for many years to
come to the economic growth and development of the Dominican Republic,” says Manuel Rocha, president of Barrick
Pueblo Viejo. “Importantly, it shows how it is improving the quality of
life of thousands of Dominicans and their families."
Between 2009 and 2012,
Barrick Pueblo Viejo invested $4.5 billion, the largest private investment ever
in the Dominican Republic. Barrick Pueblo Viejo is 60 percent owned by Barrick
Gold and 40 percent by Canada-based Goldcorp, with Barrick responsible for
operations.
Barrick Pueblo Viejo accounted for 40.7 percent of total foreign direct investment in the Dominican Republic in 2011 and 35 percent in 2012, according to the Analytica report.
In 2012, the Dominican
Republic saw the strongest FDI growth in Latin America (59 percent), according
to a Latinvex
analysis of data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC). However,
last year – as the main Barrick investments were finalized – the Dominican
Republic posted the second-worst result in FDI growth in Latin America, with a
decline of 37 percent, according to a Latinvex analysis of 2013
data from ECLAC.
Barrick’s exports from
the Dominican Republic also catapulted
the Caribbean country to become the sixth-largest Latin American exporter to
Canada and Canada’s seventh-largest trade partner in Latin America last year,
according to a Latinvex analysis of data from Statistics
Canada.
Barrick Pueblo Viejo has
also had a strong impact on job creation and salaries. It has created more than 2,100 direct jobs
and 11,392 indirect jobs. And the direct jobs are the best paid in the
Dominican Republic compared to other sectors of the economy, including finance,
according to Analytica.
Gold output at Pueblo Viejo jumped from 67,000 ounces in 2012 to 488,000 ounces
last year. This year, Barrick expects to
see between 600,000 and 700,000 ounces.
FACT CHECK ON
ARGENTINA DEBT
As Argentina starts talks to potentially resolve
defaulted debt with US creditors, the American
Task Force Argentina (ATFA) launched a web site FactCheckArgentina and advertising campaign to counter
the myths being portrayed by the Argentine government in the debt dispute
The ATFA is an alliance of organizations that promotes a negotiated settlement
with the Argentine government in the interests of American stakeholders.
"Argentina, It's
Time to Negotiate!" ATFA says in full-page
advertisements that will run run this week in a number of
publications including the Washington
Post, the Financial
Times, the Wall
Street Journal, La
Nacion, and Clarin,
as well as a number of other newspapers throughout Argentina.
On Monday, ATFA noted in this blog
post that Economy Minister Axel Kicillof’s recent conduct, including
berating the US courts and judges by name, seem to imply a lack of seriousness
on the part of Argentina to negotiate.
ILLEGAL SOFTWARE
Illegal software use in Latin America is declining, although the value of the illegal software is growing, according to the latest Global Software Survey from the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The survey is conducted every other year for BSA by IDC, which this year polled computer users in 34 markets, including nearly 22,000 consumer and business PC users and more than 2,000 IT managers.
The average rate of unlicensed software In Latin America reached 59 percent last year, a decline from the 61 percent rate in 2011. However, the value of the unlicensed software grew from $7.5 billion in 2011 to $8.4 billion last year.
Venezuela has the highest arte of unlicensed software in Latin America – 88 percent. Paraguay and El Salvador follow, with 84 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
Brazil has the lowest rate (50 percent), followed by Colombia (52 percent) and Chile and Costa Rica (59 percent each).
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