The Dominican Republic encompasses some two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, covering 49,000 square kilometres. The nation’s inhabitants number about 9 million, 40 percent of whom live in rural areas.

The Dominican Republic is a partner country of German Development Cooperation, and GTZ has been working there for over 25 years on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Economic development in the Dominican Republic is based primarily on revenue from tourism and the country’s free trade zones, and on remittances sent home from Dominicans living abroad (amounting to US$ 2.8 billion annually). The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 totalled US$ 31.6 billion. The service sector accounted for 54.3 percent of this GDP, followed by industrial production with 36.7 percent and agriculture (11 percent). 2006 saw the nation produce its best economic data in 19 years, with a growth rate reaching 10.7 percent and inflation of 5 percent. Despite macro-economic stability, however, the living standard of the majority of the population has not improved significantly. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 42 percent of Dominicans live below the poverty level, 16 percent of those in extreme poverty – i.e. on less than 1 dollar per day. The unemployment rate is high at 16.2 percent. Major barriers to development include a deficient energy supply, increasing degradation of natural resources, centralist administrative structures and inadequate state provision of education and health services. Although foreign investment rose again significantly in recent years, investors targeted almost exclusively the tourism sector.

Thanks to its many years of work in the Dominican Republic, GTZ possesses a wealth of local experience on issues such as natural resource management, decentralisation, the health sector, education, agricultural development and promoting renewable energy sources as well as small- and medium-size enterprises (SME).

Development Cooperation with the Dominican Republic focuses on management of natural resources.

GTZ staff in the Dominican Republic