Andean Group - August 2014 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Growth: In a TV interview on 4 August, Economy & Finance Minister Luis Arce said that Bolivia posted real annual GDP growth of 5.6% in the first quarter of the year, second only to Colombia (6.4%) and well above the Latin American regional average of 2.1% for the first three months. Arce claimed that Bolivia would have no problem in meeting its 2014 GDP growth target (of 5.5%-5.7%), although he noted that the region “is not in a good moment”, amidst “an economic slowdown in various countries”. The most recent (4 August) report by the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) forecasts growth of 5.5% for Bolivia for 2014, second only to Panama (6.7%). Arce flagged up other positive indicators like a reduction in the foreign debt-GDP ratio to 17%, down from 52% in 2005. Arce also noted that Bolivia’s extreme poverty rate had fallen from 34.7% in 2005 to 18.7% in 2012, crediting as instrumental the nationalisation of the hydrocarbons sector and the various social policies introduced by the Morales administration upon taking office in 2006.

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