Dominican Republic; Monetary Poverty Falls to 13.75%; Inflation Reaches 5.13%; Informal Worker Income Rises in Poorest Quintile.

Friday, September 11, 2026. This Week: Dominican Republic This week we return to the Caribbean and turn our attention to the Dominican Republica, a country I have had the pleasure of visiting many times over the years and one that I have always particularly enjoyed. Punta Cana and the eastern coastline understandably receive much of the international attention, with their extraordinary beaches and enormous tourism infrastructure, but I have also developed a real affection for Santo Domingo. There is something about the capital, the history, the people, the architecture, the restaurants and the energy of the city, that gives you an entirely different appreciation for the country beyond the walls of an all-inclusive resort. It is also fitting that we visit the Dominican Republic in our newsletter after previously featuring Haiti. The two nations share the island of Hispaniola, yet their modern economic, political and security realities could hardly be more different. Today, the Dominican Republic has emerged as one of the Caribbean’s most important economic and tourism success stories. During just the first six months of 2026, the country received more than 6.6 million visitors, an increase of 7.7% over the same period in 2025, and the government is projecting approximately 12 million visitors for the year. Tourism, foreign investment, construction, exports and remittances have helped transform the Dominican economy and have made the country increasingly important to international business. For those of us in the investigative and security professions, however, there is another side to this extraordinary growth that deserves attention. One of the most interesting examples can be found in Punta Cana with the opening of Moon Palace The Grand – Punta Cana. This is not simply another Caribbean hotel. It is a development representing an investment of more than US$1.5 billion, with 2,171 rooms and an anticipated workforce of approximately 5,700 direct employees. The scale is so great that the developers are also creating Ciudad Palace, a residential community initially intended to house approximately 4,000 employees near the resort, eventually accommodating more than 12,000 employees and family members. Stop for a moment and think about what 5,700 employees actually means from a security and operational perspective. It is easy to read that number and simply think, that’s a lot of employees. But imagine a shift change involving 1,000, 1,500 or perhaps 2,000 people. Employees have to arrive. Others have to leave. Buses and private vehicles have to enter and exit. Employees must be identified and access-controlled. Attendance must be registered quickly. Uniforms, contractors, vendors and deliveries must be distinguished from hotel guests. Restricted areas have to remain restricted while enormous numbers of people are moving through the property simultaneously. You cannot have 2,000 people standing in line waiting to punch a conventional time clock. Nor can security manually inspect thousands of credentials without creating bottlenecks. Everything, from transportation and employee access to biometric systems, CCTV, visitor management, loss prevention and emergency response, has to function almost simultaneously. And that is before we begin talking about the investigative side. A property employing thousands of people and serving thousands of guests inevitably faces employee screening, internal theft, fraud, procurement irregularities, vendor due diligence, workplace investigations, cyber incidents, organized theft, guest complaints, missing property, insurance claims, background investigations and occasionally much more serious incidents. Add hundreds of suppliers, contractors, transportation providers and other third parties, and a single mega-resort effectively becomes a small city from a risk-management perspective. Multiply that by the continuing development taking place throughout Punta Cana and the eastern Dominican Republic, and an important point becomes clear: the growth of tourism does not simply create opportunities for hotels, it creates opportunities and responsibilities for our profession. The Dominican Republic is also becoming increasingly important internationally. President Luis Abinader, in office since 2020, has pursued an ambitious agenda centered on economic growth, investment and institutional reform. Foreign direct investment reached approximately US$3.28 billion in the first half of 2026, while the country’s position as a bridge between the Caribbean, Latin America, the United States and Europe continues to strengthen. The European Union describes the Dominican Republic as a privileged partner and the largest economy in the Caribbean, while the United States remains deeply connected to the country through trade, tourism, investment and the enormous Dominican diaspora. Of course, rapid growth also brings challenges. Security, migration, the relationship with neighboring Haiti, institutional capacity, corruption, infrastructure and inequality remain part of the Dominican conversation. The extraordinary instability on the other side of Hispaniola makes border security and migration particularly sensitive political and security issues. These are complicated subjects without simple answers, but they demonstrate how geography, politics, economics and security are inevitably interconnected. Perhaps that is what makes the Dominican Republic particularly interesting to investigators. Most people arriving in Punta Cana see turquoise water, palm trees and magnificent resorts, and rightly so. It is one of the world’s great tourism destinations. But an investigator or security professional tends to look a little deeper. Behind every resort are thousands of employees. Behind those employees are transportation networks, communities and families. Behind every hotel are contractors, suppliers, financial transactions, information systems and logistics chains. Behind millions of tourists are billions of dollars moving through an increasingly sophisticated economy. Wherever people, money and opportunity come together on that scale, risk follows. And wherever there is risk, eventually someone is going to need a good investigator. Welcome to the Dominican Republic. Brett Mikkelson Founder, B.M. Investigations, Inc. – Private Investigations in Panama TOP NEWS and TIDBITS: The Dominican Republic Begins Talks with the U.S. on Bilateral Tariffs The Dominican Republic announced this Wednesday that it has begun talks with the United States regarding the issue of the “bilateral tariff agenda,” following a meeting between Dominican Foreign Minister Víctor “Ito” Bisonó and U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Goettman. The meeting addressed trade issues of interest to both countries, as well as the next steps in the bilateral dialogue on tariffs, the Dominican Foreign Ministry reported Wednesday. The Caribbean nation is among a list of 66 countries on which the United States imposed new tariffs in July, ranging from 10%