While the Dominican Republic's largest distiller of rum is experiencing increased sales worldwide, Brugal's local sales are seeing sharp declines for the third year in  a row.

The Brugal Company blames the declining sales figures on "tax saturation". Local sales have gone down 17% in the first four months of this year, with a 22% decline in April alone. These losses come on the heel of poor local sales in 2005 and 2006.

Economy Minister reiterated that the Goverment is studying the problem and looking for ways to be more flexible with taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and beer. The Government stands to lose billions of pesos in tax revenues as sales in these areas continue to decline.