Economy Overview
Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, has made considerable progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Successes under President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA (1993-1997) included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. His successor, Hugo BANZER Suarez has tried to further improve the country's investment climate with an anticorruption campaign. Growth slowed in 1999, in part due to tight government budget policies, which limited needed appropriations for anti-poverty programs, and the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. Growth should rebound to perhaps 4% in 2000 given reasonably favorable world commodity prices.
Agriculture Products
soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
Industries
mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
Industrial Production Growth Rate
4% (1995 est.)
Electricity production
2.576 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity production by source
Fossil fuel: 42.43%
Hydro: 55.75%
Nuclear: 0%
Other: 1.82% (1998)
Electricity Consumption
2.412 billion kWh (1998)
Electricity Exports
4 million kWh (1998)
Electricity Imports
20 million kWh (1998)
Currency
1 boliviano ($B) = 100 centavos
Unemployment Rate
11.4% (1997) with widespread underemployment
Population Below Poverty Line
70% (1999 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 2.3%
Highest 10%: 31.7% (1990)
Budget
Revenues: $2.7 billion
Expenditures: $2.7 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (1998)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
Debt External
$5.7 billion (1999)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
bolivianos ($B) per US$1 - 6.0065 (January 2000), 5.8124 (1999), 5.5101 (1998), 5.2543 (1997), 5.0746 (1996), 4.8003 (1995)
