Now, a difficult week is coming to Maplewell Bolivia runs the risk of being paralyzed If the fuel problem is not fixed, which is tied to the lack of currency.
This situation goes back at the beginning of March 2023when in banks and exchange houses Bolivia They began to form large rows of people who wanted to withdraw or buy dollars. Due to the shortage of the badgemost were empty hands or less money than he intended to get because the banks imposed restrictions.
Vehicles wait for fuel at a service station in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. (EFE/ Juan Carlos Torrejon).
Then, the Government announced on March 8 of that year that The Central Bank of Bolivia would sell dollars to everyone who requested it. The tails moved to the headquarters of the bank in La Paz.
In addition, they imposed themselves Restrictions to international turns, to the use of credit cards abroad and already making internet payments. But until today, the situation has not been normalized. It has worsened.
As a consequence of currency scarcity and restrictions, In the parallel market the dollar is quoted almost double that the official exchange rate.
On Wednesday, in a message to the nation, Maple He said that “Iliquidity is transient.” Promised that more will be imported fuel and the distribution of diesel to the agricultural sector through programming. In addition, he assured that he will not devalue the national currency and It will not lift the subsidy to fuels.
Besides…
The measures announced by Arce
In his message on Wednesday, President Luis Maple announced measures to face the lack of fuel:
- Educational institutions will adopt the virtual teaching modality to reduce mobility and consumption of fuels.
- The use of vehicles in the public sector will be reduced to 50%.
- Priority will be given in the provision of fuels to strategic industries and public transport.
- The fuel distribution in the service stations from 50% to 80% will be increased to meet the existing demand.
- The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) will implement an application that will report in real time about the availability of fuel at service stations.
- Specific service stations will be enabled for the provision of fuel to public transport.
- In addition, to face the shortage of dollars, the state company Bolivian fiscal oil deposits (YPFB) He has received government approval to use cryptocurrencies in the acquisition of energy from abroad.
The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, pronounces a speech in La Paz, on January 22, 2025. (Photo of Aizar Raldes / AFP).
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The president asked the Congress that approves external credits for more than 1.6 billion dollars to return the liquidity of dollars to the Bolivian economy. That request is stuck in the Legislative due to the fight inside the ruler MOVEMENT TO SOCIALISM (MAS)which has been divided into two factions: one that supports Arce and another to the ex -president Evo Morales.
In Bolivia There are presidential elections in August. Arce intends to appear to re -election and Morales also seeks to be a candidate, although the Constitutional Court has said that it is legally prevented from doing so.
A decisive week
Garbage photography thrown during a protest for the shortage of fuels against the facilities of the state Bolivian fiscal oil deposits. (EFE/ Juan Carlos Torrejón).
Bolivia It has gone from being a natural gas exporter to fuel importer, due to the exhaustion of gas wells and the lack of exploration to replace them.
Currently, the country imports about 90% of diesel and more than 50% of the gasoline that consumes. Pays them in dollars in the international market and sells to the population with a subsidized price greater than 50%.
The shortage of dollars is diminishing the country’s international reserve. In 2014, these international reserves were at US $ 15,500 million. By December 2024 they had reduced to only 1,976 million dollars, the lowest in six decades.
In 2024, Bolivia allocated $ 3,349 million for fuel importation.
The journalist Juan Carlos Arana He said to Commerce that broad sectors of Bolivian society are mobilized, and that “The country will burn this week because a country without energy is paralyzedand a paralyzed country aggravates the crisis. ”
He added that sectors such as transport, agriculture, cooperatives, miners, have given an ultimatum to the government to find a solution to the theme of fuel.
Arana explained that the prices of Food has risen 19%and that there are cities such as peace that have how they stock up because there are road landslides due to the poor state of the tracks and for the rains, and also because Load transport has been paralyzed by the lack of fuel.
“Unfortunately, this week will be crucial for the government Maple He said I will not resign, when a president in Latin America He says I will not give up is because he is rumored in corridors, say, of the palace is word. If not, you wouldn’t have to mention it ”, held.
The journalist said that it is the perfect storm to put in trouble Maple. “This week Bolivia You will have shocks that can range from the president’s resignation to popular mobilizations that demand their resignation. There are voices that talk about the elections forward. The situation is reserved forecast, ”he insisted.
Why are there no dollars?
A man carries a poster that says “Without dollars there is no progress” during a demonstration for the scarcity of fuel and dollars in La Paz on November 21, 2024. (Photo of Aizar Raldes / AFP).
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The journalist Raúl Peñaranda He said to Commerce that there are no dollars in Bolivia Because exports are very low.
“We no longer export the amounts that we previously exported to Brazil and Argentinabut much lower amounts, almost marginal. In fact, the export of gas is already in its final part. A decade ago we exported 6 billion dollars in gas to those two countries, and now almost nothing, that is why there are no dollars ”Peñaranda said.
Why have exports collapsed? Arana explained that Bolivia It has been a natural gas exporter because it had important deposits. But during your government Evo Morales decided the nationalizationwith which he confiscated all the oil and gas wells to the transnational companies that had invested more than 3.8 billion dollars to develop them.
“Bolivian fiscal oil deposits took the property of them, never allocated a weight for investment or exploration. Brazil discovered huge amounts of gas and Argentinafor political reasons, he stopped buying us just over eight months, ”said Arana.
Peñaranda said that the measures announced Wednesday by the president do not point to the underlying problem to solve the lack of fuel: the grant.
“In Bolivia the liter of gasoline costs half a dollarwhen in neighboring countries the dollar and a half can reach. That is the subject. If we import the fuels and sell them at the international price there would be no problem, because what the dollars would be recovered and could continue to import ”he remarked.
Can the subsidy be eliminated? Peñaranda said that at this pre -electoral stage, there are opposition candidates who are raising alternatives to leave behind this policy that has been about 25 years.
“The current government will not take any measure to eliminate the subsidy Because it is very unpopular. However, I believe that citizens in general would be willing to raise the price of fuel, but obviously at the time that happens it will be a reason for conflict, ”Peñaranda anticipated.
“We have a model where the State makes from the fries that people consume, to import the fuels exclusively. And it is destroyed, Bolivia’s economy is destroyed, ”said Arana.
