RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Economic activity in Bolivia accumulated a 9.56 percent drop between January and October compared to the same period of 2019, the state National Statistics Institute (INE) reported Wednesday, December 23rd.
The indicator slipped for the seventh month in a row, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said the INE.
The INE’s executive director general, Humberto Arandia, told reporters at a press conference that 2020 was set to see record negative growth as a result of the pandemic lockdown measures.
Bolivia’s Global Index of Economic Activity, which serves as a short-term forecast of productive activity, registered the biggest drops in the following sectors: metallic and non-metallic minerals (33.25 percent), construction (32.06 percent), industry (11.42 percent) and hydrocarbons (5.14 percent).
According to Arandia, the decline in the mining sector was largely caused by labor restrictions stemming from social distancing measures, as well as technical problems that mainly affected medium-scale private companies in the production of silver, lead and zinc.