LatinNews Daily - 30 April 2024

*Bolivia’s President Luis Arce has acknowledged the effect of dwindling natural gas reserves on the country’s finances, saying: “we don’t have the money today that we did previously – the gas has run out”. Arce said that “we’ve recently been carrying out more explorations to see if there is more gas”. He said that the shortfall in government income is being compounded by legislators from the right-of-centre opposition and the faction of the ruling left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) that is loyal to former president Evo Morales (2006-2019), who he criticised for refusing to approve loans for government spending. Local media yesterday cited Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro as criticising the former Morales administration for “irresponsibly generating false expectations” that Bolivia possessed a “sea of gas”.