The Dominican Republic is an independent nation occupying the Eastern part of the island of Hispaniola in the center of the Greater Antilles, between Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The Dominican Republic has a population estimated at close to 7 millions inhabitants, and its capital city of Santo Domingo in the center of the South Coast has more than 2 million people.

The official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish, but English is widespread in the international business and shipping community.

The Dominican Economy:

The economy of the Dominican Republic has traditionally been based on the export of tropical agricultural commodities such as sugar, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, etc., and the mining of gold, ferronickel, bauxite, limestone and gypsum. However, in the past decade there has been a shift towards the production of fresh fruits and vegetables, tourism and industrial free zones with labor intensive manufacturing processes. As a consequence, the Dominican Republic is a relatively large importer of both raw materials and finished manufactured products in the Caribbean Basin. Grain an grain products, fertilizers and other chemical ingredients for agricultural production, petroleum products and coal, vegetable oils and animal fats, cement and clinker are only some of the main products imported in bulk quantities. Manufactured goods of any every description as well as supermarket foodstuffs are also imported along with machinery, construction equipment and other capital goods. Despite efforts to reverse the trend, the Dominican Republic has become a net importer of goods.

Currency:

The Dominican pesos (RD$) is the legal currency of the Dominican Republic. The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic issues and controls the currency, and establishes the rate of convertibility of the Dominican peso against the major foreign currencies.