The largest economy in the Caribbean and a gateway to the US market

The Dominican Republic has grown faster than most of Latin America for three decades and is now the largest economy in the Caribbean. Tourism — the Punta Cana everyone knows — is not the only engine: free zones, gold mining and agriculture matter just as much. Santo Domingo is a little over two hours’ flight from Miami, and the time difference with the US East Coast is never more than an hour.

The lever is DR-CAFTA: goods made in Dominican free zones enter the US market duty-free. Almost nine hundred companies operate in those zones, employ two hundred thousand people and export eight and a half billion dollars a year. The largest share is not textiles, as you might expect, but medical and pharmaceutical products — a third of all exports. For a European company that wants to manufacture for the Americas without going to Asia, there are few addresses like it in the western hemisphere.

What the Dominican Republic offers

• Duty-free access to the US market through DR-CAFTA and the free zones.
• The fastest-growing economy in the Caribbean, a stable currency and an open investment policy.
• The Confotur law: fifteen years with no property tax and no transfer tax on tourism projects.
• Accessible residence for people of independent means and for retirees, with relief on foreign income.

What to watch

Land is the biggest trap. Many properties have never completed their survey (deslinde) and the registry holds older titles overlapping newer ones. Buying without checking title, and without a lawyer who knows the country, is a gamble — and that goes double for the sea-view plots most often offered to foreigners. Litigation drags on for years, so contracts belong with an arbitration clause.

The country lies in the hurricane belt and property insurance reflects it. Public administration is slower than Europeans expect, and without a local representative some matters simply do not move. None of this is a reason to stay away — it just has to be settled before signing, not after.