Economy & Business - December 2025

BOLIVIA | Attempting to calm the parallel currency market. On 1 December Bolivia’s central bank (BCB) began publishing a daily reference exchange rate for the US dollar in an attempt to bring stability to the parallel foreign exchange market. The official exchange rate remains pegged at B$6.96/US$1 when selling bolivianos and B$6.86/US$1 when selling dollars, a rate which is widely viewed as overvalued and unsustainable given the shortages of dollars in Bolivia. The first ‘referential’ rate published by the BCB was B$9.32/US$1 for the sale of bolivianos and B$7.85/US$1 for the sale of dollars. The BCB said in a statement that this rate is calculated according to current rates in the wholesale currency exchange market. It noted that “in recent months, the lack of a reference for the value of the US dollar enabled the spread of different prices for US currency, often coming from non-verified sources such as virtual platforms, bureaux de change, free traders, and others”.

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