Andean Group - September 2011 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Positive outlook: Last month the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s announced that it had revised its outlook on Bolivia’s foreign- and local-currency ratings to positive and affirmed its 'B+' long-term and 'B' short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Bolivia. The credit agency said that it had revised the outlook to “reflect the possibility of an upgrade if planned new investment in the mining and gas sectors leads to better economic growth prospects and further improvements in the country's already strong external indicators". The agency cited “a number of large infrastructure and investment projects […] announced over the last three months that could raise Bolivia's growth prospects and exports over the next three to five years”. As well as new exploration agreements for the gas and lithium sectors, a key agreement cited was that announced in June between India’s Jindal Iron & Steel and the government, whereby the former would invest US$2.1bn in the El Mutún iron ore mine over the next eight years. The project is by far the biggest investment by any Indian company in South America.