The shortage of fuels put Bolivia on the verge of collapse. From Cobija, in the Amazon North, to Bermejo, on the southern border of the country, gasoline and diesel suppliers are surrounded by vehicles of all sizes looking for provisions making rows that can last hours and up to days. The crisis got worse after the president of the state oil company, Armin Dorgathen, confessed that he had no money to import the necessary fuels to meet half of the usual demand. President Luis Arce said he will not resign and took ten measures to face the situation that the opposition and experts have considered insufficient.
“We are not going to give up. We have faced even coup d’etat in this same town of the town, and we are faithful to the fulfillment of the popular mandate expressed at the polls and the Constitution, ”said the president in a televised message in which he presented his plan to face the emergency. The measures that approved include virtual classes, teleworking and reducing schedules to lower population displacements. According to Arce, during a period, which did not delimit, fuel supply will cover 80% of demand. This plan will not reach to stop carriers or consumers, who are organizing different forms of protest for the next few days.
The Bolivian president ratified that he will not devalue the currency or suspend fuel subsidies. “We are never going to take action against the heritage of the Bolivian people,” he said. He also ruled out requested from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has always been his black beast. “They ask for hard conditions and do not understand countries like Bolivia,” he said more than once. He considered the situation of the country as “simple: a transitory illiquidity of dollars. He demanded that the parliament, of opposition majority, approves the hiring of more credits of multilateral organizations such as the Inter -American Development Bank or World Bank, as these will serve to bring currencies to the country, with which more fuel can be imported.
JUAN CARLOS TORREJÓN (EFE)
Opposition criticism
The opposition has considered the Arce measures as mere palliative ones that may not replace the lack of background decisions about the country’s economic crisis. The crisis coincides with the definition of the names of the candidates who will seek to replace the leftist president in the August elections. Some believe that the most important thing would be to reduce public spending; Others ask to suspend subsidies and wish to negotiate a rescue of the IMF.
Several experts have explained that the approval of new credits for Parliament will not change the situation, because these are loans for development projects and their execution must be by progressive and slow force.
“Bolivia is not broken, it continues to generate investment and redistributing wealth,” Arce has defended himself, which also plans to participate in the elections, although his intention to vote in the surveys does not exceed 5%. As the president said, “difficult times are to create strong men and women.”
The lack of fuel is a result of the exchange crisis in which the country has mired since February 2023. On that date, currency reserves practically sold out and the banks began a “corralito” of the deposits nominated in dollars that continues to the present. Each depositor can only withdraw from $ 100 to 200 per month. Banks also approved restrictions on cards used abroad and twists in other currencies.
The Government decided not to devalue the Bolivian, but a parallel market appeared in which this currency is continually depreciated. At this time, the dollar costs 12 Bolivians, while the official change is 6.96 Bolivians per dollar, which implies a devaluation of the national currency of 70%.
Importers are suffering for this reason. Imports fell and the prices of foreign products fired. But the devaluation of the currency has also affected the prices of national goods. The year -on -year inflation of 2024 was 10%, the third highest in South America, and so far this year the prices have already climbed 3.4%.
The show of dollars originates in the debacle of the country’s oil industry, which also explains the growing need to import fuels. The production of associated gas and liquids has fallen to half of what it was in 2014. National income has decreased in this same proportion. At the same time, Bolivia must import 56% of gasoline and 86% of the diesel it consumes. And sell to the public directly what you buy, without saving reservations for situations like now.
The government holds the governments of Evo Morales responsible for this situation that preceded it, for not having made more investments in hydrocarbon exploration. Arce was the Minister of Economy of these governments and is considered, together with Morales, the father of the economic model that today makes.
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