Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Bolivia: EVO - WATCH Economy Gets Better Despite Evo


Bolivia's economy appears to be doing well, MineWeb reports based on an interview with Bolivia's Finance Minister.

2.4 growth, inflation is down to 2%.

And Evo can thank Goni and Tuto, and his own parties incompetence for that. I wrote about this last year, when the economic indicators for 2004 had been really good.
What happened is the country emerged from the recession of 2000, 2001, 2002, partly through increased revenues from oil and gas, once production resulting from the massive foreign investment those last years went on-line. The other because both prior governments had done such things as reduce the foreign debt, lowered the budget deficit by cutting government spending, eliminating wasteful bureaucracies, decentralized spending to the local level, improved the taxation regime, the Central Bank did its job and targeted inflation. And there were higher pension payments to older Bolivians and for pre-natal care.

And all this despite the road blockages and disruptions caused by Evo Morales allies. Fortunately now he is president, Evo's schemes at most amount to decrees, and his majority can not seem to put spending packages together.



RENO--(Mineweb.com Bolivia's Finance Minister Luis Alberto Arce said Wednesday that hydrocarbons and mining have helped the nation's economy exceed a 2.4 percent growth rate for the first time since 2004.

The minister told Prensa Latina that Bolivia's mining sector increased by 19% during the first half of this year. Gas and oil production have increased by 12% while agriculture, power generation, transportation and manufacturing have also grown during the same period.

In the meantime, the nation's inflation rate has decline from 3.44% a year ago to 2% for the first six months of 2006.

Among the mining ventures operating in Bolivia are Coeur d'Alene's San Bartolome project and Apex Silver's San Cristobal project. However, Bolivian President Evo Morales has revealed plans to gain more government control of the nation's natural resources.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

No, Boli-nica, this is the "Chavez effect". It helps being friends with the fastest growing economy in South America.

Cutting government spending? hmmmmm...so how many children have to do without health care, schooling, or basic infrastructure so that your precious investor class is happy?

Well, as long as they don't form unions and will work for less than a typical Chinese person, then they, the investors, will be happy.

you idiot--it is exactly this exploitation and austerity that got Goni and the other pro-US thugs thrown out of the country.

Stay in a delusional denial==exactly where we want the apologists for US imperialism to be.

Boli-Nica said...

LOL...fastest growing because of fastest growing oil prices..the rest is smoke and mirrors, corruption, stealing, and gangs..

nothing new here, move along people.