Economy Overview
Bolivia is a resource rich country with strong growth attributed to captive markets for natural gas exports – to Brazil and Argentina. Gas accounts for roughly 50% of Bolivia’s total exports and will fund more than half of its 2015 budget. However, the country remains one of the least developed countries in Latin America because of state-oriented policies that deter investment and growth. 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. The global recession slowed growth, but Bolivia recorded the highest growth rate in South America during 2009 and has averaged 5.3% growth each year since 2009. High commodity prices since 2010 sustained rapid growth and large trade surpluses. However, a lack of foreign investment in the key sectors of mining and hydrocarbons, along with conflict among social groups pose challenges for the Bolivian economy. President Evo MORALES passed an investment law and promised not to nationalize additional industries in an effort to improve Bolivia’s investment climate. The global decline in oil prices in late 2014 exerted downward pressure on the price Bolivia receives for exported gas and may result in lower GDP growth rates and losses in government revenue in 2015.
Agriculture Products
soybeans, quinoa, Brazil nuts, sugarcane, coffee, corn, rice, potatoes, chia, coca
Industries
mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry
Industrial Production Growth Rate
6% (2014 est.)
Labor Force
4.881 million (2014 est.)
Labor Force by Occupation
Agriculture: 32%
Industry: 20%
Services: 47.9% (2009 est.)
Unemployment Rate
7.4% (2013 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
45%
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: 0.8%
Highest 10%: 33.6% (2012 est.)
Distribution of Family Income Gini Index
57.9 (1999)
Budget
Revenues: $16.59 billion
Expenditures: $16.76 billion (2014 est.)
Public Debt
35.6% of GDP (2013 est.)
Central Bank Discount Rate
4% (31 december 2012)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Stock of Narrow Money
$7.26 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Stock of Broad Money
$17.4 billion (31 December 2012 est.)
Stock of Domestic Credit
$11.82 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
$6.089 billion (31 December 2011)
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
$14.43 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Debt External
$7.734 billion (31 December 2013 est.)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
$8.809 billion (31 December 2012)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
$0 (31 December 2012 est.)
Exchange Rates
7.0167 (2010 est.)
