Andean Group - August 2015 (ISSN 1741-4466)

Renewable energy: On 27 July the executive president of Bolivia’s state-owned national electricity company (Ende), Eduardo Paz, told reporters of plans to implement 11 renewable energy projects in Bolivia by 2020, which will generate an additional 400 MW

With an investment of at least US$600m, these projects will allow Bolivia to increase the proportion of its wind, solar, geothermic and biomass energies from 1% to 4% of total energy production. As such, the Morales government is forecasting that thermoelectric production will drop from 65% of the total to 26% by 2025, while hydroelectric production will double from 35% to 70% in the same period.

Also on 27 July, Energy & Hydrocarbons Minister Luis Alberto Sánchez told reporters that the government plans to have “a surplus of 2,500 MW by 2020 and of 10,000 MW by 2025”.

Tax take up: On 7 August the head of Bolivia’s tax agency (Servicio de Impuestos Nacionales, SIN), Erik Ariñez, said that Bolivia’s tax take was B$32.0bn (US$4.51bn (not including the direct hydrocarbons tax [IDH]) in the first seven months, up by 6.5% on the same period of the previous year. Three days later, (10 August) the SIN, which is on a drive to combat tax evasion, announced plans to intervene in 556 businesses across the country for failing to comply with current tax regulations.

Growth: On 10 August Economy & Finance Minister Luis Arce told reporters that Bolivia’s GDP had grown by 4.6% year on year in the first half of 2015, with 5% growth projected overall for the year. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) forecasts real annual GDP growth of 4.5% growth for Bolivia in 2015, down from 5.4% in 2014.

• Inflation

Inflation in the month of July was 0.61%, according to the national statistics institute (INE), bringing the accumulated year-to-date rate to 1.7%. The annual rate was 3.06%. Inflation in 2014 was 5.2%.