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Telephone company Nuevatel invested Bs210 million ($30.4 million) to renew its operating licences for the provision of mobile and internet services. This investment is in addition to others made in 2019, such as the deployment of a LTE network for home internet, in addition to the LTE service of Nuevatel which covers at least 170 municipal capitals, reported the company.
The National Chamber of Industries (CNI) proposed the Government to increase the basic salary by 1.47% and to freeze the national minimum wage at Bs.2122 ($307.06). CNI’s economist explained that the proposal to freeze the minimum wage is because of the lost of competitiveness in Bolivia’s companies, while the increase on the basic salary is be in line with 2019’s inflation.
Bolivia’s external debt reached $11.056 billion as of November last year, which represents 26% of Bolivia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the president of Bolivia’s Central Bank (BCB) the current ratio is under the international standards. Bolivia’s external debt increased from $2.269 billion in 2007 to the mentioned $11.056 billion in November.
A technical commission from Bolivia is in Argentina to start negotiations for the signing of a new addendum to the gas purchase agreement and to stabilize the volumes demanded by the neighbouring country. Bolivia’s YPFB president, Herland Soliz, explained that the current contract addendum establishes export volumes of Bolivian gas of between 16 and 18 million cubic meters per day (MMmcd) in winter and from 10 MMmcd to 11 MMmcd in Summer.
As of January 9, 2020, Bolivia’s net international reserves reached $6.429 billion, said the president of the Central Bank of Bolivia, Guillermo Aponte. According to Aponte, international reserves reached $15.1 billion in 2014, but have gradually declined since then due to external factors and falling exports.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in La Paz froze Bs.44 million ($6.4 million) from the accounts of Petróleos de Venezuela S. A. (PDVSA), reported Public Prosecutor Marco Villa. The measure is part of a legal process against former Minister of the Presidency, Juan Ramon Quintana.
The internal debt of Bolivia’s General Treasury (TGN) reached as of October 2019 an internal debt of of $5.95 billion, which is equal to 13.8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around $43 billion, reported the Economy Minister, Jose Luis Parada.
The new president of Bolivia’s Mutun Steel Company (ESM), Milko Alberto Moreno, reported that the state-owned company plans to produce and export ferromanganese for about $250 million a year. He explained that the huge iron deposit in Mutun, located in the province of German Busch in the department of Santa Cruz, has large reserves of manganese that will be evaluated through a prospecting study. Ferromanganese is a ferroalloy used in the world’s steel industry to improve the strength and hardness of steel.
Bolivia’s electoral court budgeted Bs.201 million ($29.1 million) for the next election in May. The budget is for the electoral process but not for the rebuilding of the infrastructure of local electoral courts.
The World Bank estimates that Bolivia’s economy will grow 3% in 2020. According to the organisation, the economy slowed down due to the political and social conflict in the country. It estimates that Bolivia’s GDP will grow 3.2% in 2021 and 3.4% in 2022.
