Economy Overview
Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company in exchange for a predetermined service fee. After higher prices for mining and hydrocarbons exports produced a fiscal surplus in 2008, the global recession in 2009 slowed growth. A decline in commodity prices that began in late 2008, a lack of foreign investment in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors, a poor infrastructure, and the suspension of trade benefits with the United States will pose challenges for the Bolivian economy.
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% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 80
Labor Force
4.614 million (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 78
Electricity production
5.495 billion kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 111
Electricity Consumption
4.665 billion kWh (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 112
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Unemployment Rate
8.3% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 94 7.7% (2009 est.) note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
Population Below Poverty Line
30.3% of population living on less than $2/day (2009 est.)
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 0.5%
Highest 10%: 44.1% (2005)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
58.2 (2009)country comparison to the world: 9 44.7 (1999)
Public Debt
40.3% of GDP (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 71 40.3% of GDP (2009 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
3% (31 October 2010)country comparison to the world: 26 13% (31 December 2008)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$4.374 billion (31 December 2010 est)country comparison to the world: 97 $3.524 billion (31 December 2009 est)
Stock of Broad Money
$12.16 billion (31 December 2009)country comparison to the world: 95 $11.04 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$8.314 billion (31 December 2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 99 $7.233 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$2.792 billion (31 December 2009)country comparison to the world: 90 $2.672 billion (31 December 2008)$2.263 billion (31 December 2007)
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$8.739 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 57 $8.581 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Debt External
$6.13 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 99 $5.653 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
$NA (31 December 2009)$5.998 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
$NA (31 December 2010)$63.8 million (31 December 2008)
Exchange Rates
bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar - 7.0699 (2010), 7.07 (2009), 7.253 (2008), 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006)
