The government will seek a solution to the demands by the bakers

SANTO DOMINGO. The Administrative Minister of the Presidency, José Ramon Peralta, reported yesterday that he will meet with the director of Internal Taxes, Guarocuya Feliz, in order to deal with the issue of the demands by the bakers and the increase in the price of bread.

Although he did not say what day that they would meet, he assured reporters that they will find a manner to continue helping this sector that he considered very important, but he also said that tax exemptions regarding the payment of the Tax on the Transfer of Industrialized Goods and Services (ITBIS) that they received two years ago, apparently can no longer be maintained.

He made it clear that the government is helping the bakers with the improvement of their production technology and financing, although he recognized that this latter aspect perhaps has not come along as fast as it might.

"Not on the government's part, but also.... It has a lot to do with the bakers themselves," said Peralta in an interview in the Presidential Palace. He indicated that the current conditions allow the bakers to work with profit margins, because these are not the former conditions of high prices for the raw material such as wheat flour and other elements.

He emphasized that the government wants this sector to continue developing itself, and is always willing to support it. He said that he respects the right that the bakers have to protest, but that the people themselves have rejected the announcement of a price increase.