Andean Group - February 2026

The international credit ratings agency Fitch upgraded Bolivia’s credit rating from CCC- to CCC on 16 January, stating that this “reflects easing risks of default or restructuring due to reduced political constraints on external financing, financing commitments from multilaterals, and the elimination of fuel subsidies, which should support fiscal deficit reduction and reserve accumulation”. However, on 20 January, the president of the central bank (BCB), David Espinoza, revealed that the bank had major gold debts due to forward sales contracts agreed under former president Luis Arce (2020-2025).

Espinoza – who was appointed by President Rodrigo Paz – stated that the BCB had been selling gold to cover debt repayments and fuel imports under the Arce administration, and it had received advance payment for these sales. In four transactions between April and October 2025, the BCB received US$1.26bn in exchange for the agreed sale of 9.6 tonnes of gold. Of that, 3 tonnes have been delivered thus far. As a result, he said that the BCB needs to purchase 6.6 tonnes of gold, valued at US$921m, before October 2026, in order to fulfil its obligations.

Since 2023 the BCB has been involved in a controversial process whereby the bank purchases gold from local miners in bolivianos, refines it, and uses futures contracts on the international market to obtain immediate liquidity in US dollars. This was an attempt to address rapidly dwindling hard currency reserves. Although the process did lead to an increase in foreign reserves, enabling the Arce government to meet its external debt obligations and continue to import fuel, this has simply pushed the problem further down the road, and the Paz administration will now be faced with the issue of honouring these sales.

There have been legal and constitutional concerns raised about the sale of gold through these futures contracts, as the BCB is legally obligated to maintain a minimum of 22 tonnes of gold in reserves. Critics have argued that the commitment to future deliveries undermines this provision, even if the threshold is formally observed. The 2025 presidential candidate Jorge Quiroga, who lost to Paz in the second round, called for the prosecution of BCB officials if they failed to maintain the mandated level of gold reserves. However, the Arce administration argued that a clause in the 2025 budget allowed for the country’s gold reserves to be used in this way.