Bolivia’s International Reserves decreased from $8.9 billion, as of December 2018, to $7.4 billion on October 11. This is the lowest level in 11 years. Former President of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), Juan Antonio Morales, warns that stocks can still fall if the country’s fiscal deficit and current account deficit does not get under control.
Although it has the largest lithium reserves on the planet, Bolivia so far does not know how to exploit this resource or obtain patents to produce carbonate or hydroxide of this material, said the lithium economy analyst, Juan Carlos Zuleta.
The growth of 11 productive sectors of the country: agricultural activity, trade, financial sector, manufacturing, construction, restaurant and hotel services, communal, social, personal and domestic services was evident; however, it failed to reverse the negative incidence of national hydrocarbon activity, which caused Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to reach only 3.38%.
There’s no quick solution on the horizon. After two weeks of the outbreak of the post-election crisis in Bolivia, there are at least three scenarios of solution to the conflict but none seems to gain enough consensus among all sectors. On one hand there is the solution proposed by the Government, which is not shared by either regional conservative leaders or political opposition. Another proposal comes from the civic movement (local civil society assemblies) and the National Democratic Council (Conade), who maintain the mobilizations and see that the only way out is Morales’ resignation, something that is seen as a coup by the government and as an unconsulted move by politicians. The last of the solutions is that of the formal opposition to the Government, headed by Carlos Mesa: to call for new elections with new electoral authorities.
The Bolivian government has issued a decree overturning a massive joint lithium project with southern German firm ACISA. The project is considered vital for the German auto industry’s plans to develop electric batteries.
