The Bolivian government expects to close 2022 with a growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around 4%, according to the Vice Minister of Planning, David Guachalla. This is an optimistic assumption, taking into account that according to ECLAC the Bolivian economy would grow 3.5% this year.
“It is expected to have a growth rate of around 4%; However, it is important to highlight the international economic context, which is quite adverse,” said Guachalla, in contact with the state media network, according to the Bolivian Information Agency (ABI).
According to the official, in a challenging world context, Bolivia stood out for its price stability, “thanks to its policies framed in the Productive Community Social Economic Model (MESCP).”
The world economic convulsion generated by the war in Ukraine had a mixed effect for Bolivia, since although the country was impacted, like any other nation in the world, it was benefited by the increase in the price of commodities.
According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, at the beginning of this year, the Government projected in the 2022 Financial Fiscal Program (PFF) a GDP growth of around 5.1% and an end-of-period inflation rate around 3.3%.
INFLATION AND POVERTY IN BOLIVIA
As of November 2022, Bolivia registers an inflation of 3%. Until recently it was the country with the lowest inflation in Latin America, but today that place is occupied by Panama.
According to data from the Ministry of Economy, moderate poverty fell from 39% in 2020 to 36.3% in 2021, while extreme poverty fell from 13.7% to 11.1% last year; and inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, fell from 0.45 percentage points (pp) in 2020 to 0.42 pp in 2021.
With information from Bloomberg