Dominican Industrial Confidence Improves in Q2 2026

Dominican industrial confidence strengthened during the April-June quarter, with the Industrial Confidence Index (ICI) rising to 56.4 and the Business Climate Index (ICE) reaching 55.9, according to the latest Industrial Business Survey conducted by the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD).

Both indicators remained above the 50-point threshold, which signals a positive assessment among industrial companies. The results also represented an improvement from the previous quarter, suggesting that businesses entered the middle of 2026 with stronger expectations for production, sales and overall operating conditions.

Production And Sales Expectations Remain Positive

The ICI has remained above 50 since the first quarter of 2022, reflecting a prolonged period in which industrial companies have maintained a favorable assessment of their business conditions. The index incorporates perceptions related to sales, production expectations and finished-goods inventories.

During the second quarter, the production balance reached 58.2 compared with the previous quarter and 58.9 compared with the same period a year earlier. Expectations for production in July-September were even higher, at 63.5.

Sales also recorded positive readings. The balance stood at 59.9 compared with January-March and 62.8 year over year. Expectations for sales during the third quarter reached 63.3, indicating that industrial companies continued to anticipate relatively strong commercial activity.

Export Participation And Inventory Pressures

The survey also pointed to a change in the export profile of the companies participating in the study. The share of businesses reporting that they allocate part of their production to foreign markets declined from 77.4% in the previous quarter to 73.0% in April-June.

Inventory conditions showed a different dynamic. Sales grew faster than production when compared with the first quarter, with balances of 59.9 and 58.2, respectively. As a result, the share of companies reporting insufficient inventories increased from 6.0% to 19.0%.

The change suggests that stronger sales activity was accompanied by greater pressure on available finished-goods inventories, an issue that could influence production and inventory decisions during the following quarter.

Industrial Investment Remains High

Investment in production capacity continued to be widespread among surveyed companies, although the proportion reporting such investments declined from the previous quarter. In the second quarter, 85.2% of companies said they had invested to increase installed production capacity, compared with 92.8% in January-March.

Machinery remained the leading area of investment. Its share increased from 23.0% in the first quarter to 27.0% in the second quarter, indicating that equipment continued to account for a significant portion of industrial capacity expansion.

Business Climate Improves Across Key Indicators

The Business Climate Index rose to 55.9 from 53.0 at the end of the previous quarter. The indicator measures business perceptions of several conditions affecting companies and the broader economic environment.

Perceptions of the Dominican economy improved from 52.0 to 53.2, while the assessment of the international economy increased more substantially, from 41.0 to 50.5. The production branch registered 57.8, the investment climate stood at 55.4 and the assessment of companies’ own situation reached 62.5.

All five components were therefore above 50 during the second quarter. The survey also reported that expectations for July-September remained above the threshold across the five factors considered by the index, although the information provided does not specify an overall third-quarter ICE figure.

For businesses and investors, the combination of stronger confidence, positive production and sales balances, and continued investment in productive capacity points to a generally favorable assessment of industrial conditions in the Dominican Republic during the second quarter. At the same time, the decline in export participation and the increase in insufficient inventories remain areas to monitor as companies move into the second half of 2026.