Andean Group - March 2012 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Remittances: According to Bolivia’s central bank (BCB), remittances in January 2012 reached US$71.8m, 9.4% less than the same month in 2011. The BCB attributes the drop in part to unemployment in Spain (currently at 23%), which is the main source of remittances. According to the president of the BCB, Marcelo Zabalaga, remittances reached US$939m in 2010, rising to US$1.01bn in 2011; he forecast US$1.00bn for 2012 and US$883m for the year after, mainly due to the economic situation in Europe. According to the BCB, 46.8% of remittances come from Spain, followed by the US (20.1%), Argentina (15.3%) and Brazil (2.8%).

Gas revenue: Bolivia’s state oil company, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), recently reported that Bolivia received US$447m in revenue in the first two months of 2012, a 48% increase on the same period the previous year. According to the YPFB, the rise owes to increased demand from Brazil and Argentina as well as a quarterly adjustment in export prices in line with the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) - the grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. Of the total amount, US$59.1m went to the Treasury and US$269.4m went on IDH. As regards regional breakdown in terms of royalties, US$76.1m went to the eastern region of Tarija, where the country’s main gas fields are, followed by Santa Cruz (US$21.9m); Cochabamba (US$6.4m); and Chuquisaca (US$3.7m).