MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia granted US$550-mn loan by CAF

Bolivia is “a strategic partner,” Díaz-Granados said

Bolivia was granted a US$550 million loan as part of a program to support the country's economic recovery, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) said on Monday in a statement from its Southern Region's headquarters in Montevideo.

The move becomes the first concrete operation under the Economic Recovery Support Program (PAREC) CAF President Sergio Díaz-Granados recently presented to Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira.

Bolivia is “a strategic partner of the first order” and a founding member of CAF, Díaz-Granados said. The bank seeks to accompany the new government ”in transforming structural challenges into concrete opportunities for sustainable growth (...) prioritizing the well-being of millions of Bolivians.“

”This liquidity loan that CAF is making available to Bolivia in the short term consolidates the institution as the first multilateral organization to present a concrete proposal to support the country in its new term of government,“ the communiqué also pointed out.

The loan ”is part of a program that plans to channel up to US$3.1 billion over the next five years through initiatives and projects that must be approved by the institution's Board of Directors,“ it further mentioned.

It also falls ”within one of the four pillars with which it plans to support the country's economic growth priorities,“ namely macroeconomic stabilization, which is complemented by the pillars of ”national and regional integration, social welfare and inclusion with a gender perspective, and environmental sustainability and climate action.“

”The approved operation strengthens the Bolivian state's capacity to meet its immediate financial commitments, while generating certainty and predictability for the development of the economic reform program that will drive productive recovery and social welfare,“ the statement concludes.

Since early 2023, Bolivia has faced a persistent shortage of foreign currency, leading to fuel shortages since last year.

President Paz hinted a ”possible theft“ exceeding US$15 billion by the former administration of President Luis Arce Catacora, and announced a comprehensive investigation that would spare no one. ”I fear the figure could be even higher,“ he added while pledging to fight the ”few thieves [who] have stolen part of our country's future.“

”We are not transforming the state; we are basically performing an autopsy. The state is dead because whoever steals more than $15 billion, and the figure seems to be growing, has killed a state that was supposed to be at the service of Bolivians,” the President explained.

The new administration has already intervened in state companies like the Food Production Support Company (Emapa) and the Boliviana de Aviación (BoA).