The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, in a message addressed to the population, announced the elimination of preventive measures to avoid the spread of Covid-19 since Thursday  February 17. “As of today, all the restrictive measures imposed by Covid-19 are suspended.”

The use of masks in public spaces and in those private areas for public use will no longer be mandatory, nor will a vaccination card be required to enter the different spaces, nor will the capacity be limited, as a consequence of the “success” of the vaccination program. implemented in the Caribbean island for a year.

According to the Dominican president: “The country deserves and needs an emotional recovery and to leave behind the measures that we had to impose for a time, and are already in the past.” Emphasizing that prevention measures will be the individual responsibility of each citizen of the country. “After this long battle, we started to get our freedom back.”

Overcoming the pandemic

During his speech, the president of the Dominican Republic assured that the country has overcome “the worst of the pandemic” and that the daily infections and those of the last four weeks are in clear decline. While the mortality rate is one of the lowest on the planet and the occupation of intensive care beds is at highly controllable levels.

The nation registers 4,351 deaths during the pandemic and has suffered five waves since the virus began in March 2020.

Abinader described as a “great collective victory” the National Vaccination Plan, which reached its first year and stressed that Dominicans “were an example to the world.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: swissinfo.ch

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Foreign direct investment from Latin America and the Caribbean fell by 34.7 %, representing a loss of 56,000 million dollars and the lowest level in a decade, according to a new report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean United Nations (ECLAC).

Specifically, investment in the Latin American region was 105,480 million dollars during 2020, which is equivalent to 2.5 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2021, Cepal estimates this will grow between 10% and 15 % globally. In Latin America, the projection ranges from a 5 % decline to a 5 % advance.

By region, Central America accounted for the bulk of investment losses, with a drop of 89.4%, while in the Caribbean the contraction was 25.5%.

For the executive secretary of Cepal, Alicia Bárcena, the data represents a “big drop”, a trend that had already been decreasing since 2013.

“Foreign direct investment made relevant contributions in Latin America and the Caribbean, but there are no elements that allow us to affirm that in the last decade it has contributed to significant changes in the productive structure of the region or that it has served as a catalyst for the transformation of the model of productive development”, assured Bárcena.

In this context, the executive secretary is committed to a multilateral strategic approach to position the interests of the region and that investment flows contribute to sustainable development.

K. Tovar

Source: Xinhua

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More than 111 million malware infections affected devices with Windows operating systems in 2020, data that shows a decrease in the impact of company devices on this type of malicious software.

Attacks decreased 12 % compared to 2019, according to Atlas VPN. Infections have also decreased by 11 % in consumer equipment, from 103.5 million in 2019 to 92.3 million in 2020, and 24%.

The cybersecurity company noted that this decline “could mean that cybercriminals found other, more effective methods to exploit victims online.”

Almost 83 % of the attacks were on personal devices, while 15 % targeted companies. A study by Malwarebytes offers the exact data of ‘malware’ detected in Windows: 111.014.261

Malicious advertisements and Trojans were the most common types of ‘malware’, with 35.5 million and 29.9 million cases, respectively. 31.5 million consumer devices struggled with ads, while business teams had nearly 4 million infections, a total drop of 22 % from 45.7 million in 2019.

Trojans fell one point more, from 38.5 million to 29.9 million infections last year, but they were the type of virus that affected businesses the most, with 6.1 million infections detected on devices. In the case of consumers, 23.7 million Trojan infections were recorded.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa

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Apple recovered the second position in the list of the manufacturers of smartphoneds that sold the most devices in the world, after surpassing the Chinese Huawei with the almost 200 million mobile phones that it has sold throughout the year 2020, behind the South Korean Samsung.

The latest study by the analysis firm Gartner places Samsung as the first mobile seller of 2020, with more than 253 million units sold and 18.8% market share, data that nevertheless represents a fall of 14, 6 % compared to 2019.

In 2020 Apple managed to retake the second position in the list of mobile phone sellers to the detriment of the Chinese Huawei, with about 200 million devices and 14.8 % market share, growing 3.3 % in the year .

Huawei is the big victim in the sales data for 2020, affected by the United States veto and without Google services, and falls by 24.1 % compared to 2019. Even so, it manages to be third and sell 182 million smartphones and gain 13.5 % of the market.

Behind are two other Chinese brands: Xiaomi, with about 146 million mobile devices, and Oppo, with 112 million units and 8.3 % share. Xiaomi is the one that grows the most, 15.7 %.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa

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The US investment bank Goldman Sachs posted an attributable net profit of $ 8.915 billion for the whole of 2020, which is equivalent to an increase of 13% compared to the previous year’s earnings, despite the impact on its balance sheet of the crisis generated by Covid-19.

The firm managed to improve its profitability despite the fact that in 2020 it registered extraordinary charges derived from the crisis. According to the annual accounts published by the company on Tuesday, last year it registered provisions to face credit losses amounting to 3,098 million dollars, triple the amount in 2019.

“We hope that this year will bring much needed stability and a respite from the pandemic, but we remain prepared to handle a wide range of scenarios and we are ready to meet the needs of our customers”, explained the president and CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon.

Revenue in 2020 grew by 22 percent, to $ 44.56 billion. Income from interests grew by 9%, to 4,751 million dollars, while those from commissions and fees reached 39,809 million, 22% more.

Only in the fourth quarter of the year, the net attributable profit of Goldman Sachs was 4,362 million dollars, 153% more than in the same period of the previous year. On his side, revenues rose 18%, to 11,741 million dollars.

K. Tovar

Source: Investing

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The measure was published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette No. 6,608 of this Tuesday, December 29.

Article 3 indicates that until April 30, 2021, payment of Import Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Fee for determination of the Customs Regime is exempted in the terms and conditions provided in this Decree, to definitive imports of personal property, new or used, as applicable, carried out by the organs and entities of the National Public Administration, as well as those carried out with their own resources, by natural or legal persons, classified in the tariff codes, indicated in the Appendix I that is an integral part of this Decree.

According to article 4, the payment of the Value Added Tax is exempt, and the rate of 2% or 0% ad valorem will be applied, as appropriate, by virtue of the provisions of articles 8, 10, 11 and 12 of the Customs Tariff. Customs, to definitive imports of capital goods, computer and telecommunications goods, their parts, pieces and accessories, not produced or with insufficient production in the country, for first use, identified as BK or BIT, in column three ( 3), of article 37 of the Customs Tariff, under the terms and conditions set forth in the respective “BK or BIT Exemption Certificate”, administered by the Ministry of People’s Power with competence in industrial matters.

Article 5 indicates that definitive imports of tangible personal property are also exempted, made by legal persons, whose economic activity corresponds to the automotive sector, classified in the tariff codes indicated in Appendix II that is an integral part of this Decree , under the terms and conditions provided in the respective “Certificate of Exoneration of the Automotive sector”, administered by the Ministry of Popular Power with competence in matters of industries or “Import Authorization under the Regime of Imported Assembly Material for Vehicles”, issued of the Integrated National Service of Customs and Tax Administration (SENIAT), as appropriate.

Article 6 also includes sales made in the national territory, definitive imports of personal property made by the Organs and Entities of the National Public Administration, aimed at preventing the expansion of the Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), classified in the tariff codes, indicated in Appendix III that is an integral part of this Decree, in the terms and conditions provided in the respective “Exemption Document”, issued by the Integrated National Service of Customs and Tax Administration (SENIAT).

Article 7 indicates that definitive imports of tangible personal property, new or used, are exempted for a period of 90 days, counted from the entry into force of this Decree, to definitive imports of personal property, new or used, as applicable, classified in the corresponding tariff codes. to electrical and electronic equipment for telecommunications.

Likewise, in accordance with article 8, goods classified in the tariff codes indicated in Appendix IV that form an integral part of this Decree are subject to a tariff quota regime until April 30, 2021, and for that purpose, they may be Exonerated or totally or partially deducted from the Import Tax, Value Added Tax and Fee for Determination of the Customs Regime in the amounts and terms indicated in the respective “Certificate of Exoneration under the Tariff Contingent Regime”, administered by the Ministry of Popular Power with competence in economics, finance and foreign trade, after analyzing the cost benefit report.

G. Febres

With information from national media and social networks

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