MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Morales orders double Christmas bonus for Bolivia's 300.000 public employees

Morales said the bonus will continue as long as the economy exceeds 4.5%

In what seems a partial contagion of what is happening in Venezuela, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that he will double the Christmas bonus for Bolivia’s public employees which will be the equivalent of two months extra salary.

 But the populist president’s surprise announcement upset private companies because he said they should also pay their employees the special bonus. It was not immediately clear whether the government would be legally bound to do so.

Bolivia is among countries, like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela, that oblige all employers to pay their workers an extra monthly wage in December.

In most of these countries the yearly bonus (known as aguinaldo, prima in Colombia and 13º salário in Brazil) is split into two separate payments: the first usually arrives half way through the year and the second at Christmas time.

Morales’ decree means Bolivia’s 300,000 public employees, whose median salary is about 500 dollars a month, will get a third monthly wage during the month.

The bonus will continue annually as long as Bolivia’s GDP exceeds 4.5%. The government says GDP is expected to reach 6.7% this year.

“It is a fair recognition of the workers. The economy is in a good state and the workers should be rewarded for the country’s growth with a double Christmas bonus,” said Morales in a meeting with union leaders at the government house Palacio Quemado yesterday.

“In the past wealth was privatized and poverty was socialized. Our policy has always been to close the gap between the rich and the poor,” he added at the end of the meeting.