Bolivia achieved a trade surplus of US$603 million as of December 2022, the third consecutive year of record figures in foreign trade, according to the director of the National Statistics Institute (INE), Humberto Arandia.
“As of December 2022, we have registered a positive trade balance of US$603 million. The third consecutive year that thanks to the coherence of the economic policies applied, a favorable result is recorded”, he highlighted in a national press conference.
Non-traditional exports were the main determinant for this record registered, with an increase of 42.5%, reaching US$3.872 billion.
“To highlight that in the 2022 management, the historical record of exports is registered, achieving US$13.653 billion, a growth of 23% in relation to the 2021 management”, he informed.
In the non-traditional products sector, the most important group of goods is the one associated with soybean and its derivatives, which recorded a total of US$2.2 billion in exported value, with a growth of 62%.
Another sector that performed well was the urea and lithium sectors in the initial exploitation stage.
“It is also important to highlight the growth in urea and lithium derivatives exports, with lithium carbonate, which went from US$41 million in exports in 2021 to US$231 million in 2022, with a growth of 470%,” he detailed.
In his opinion, these figures show and register considerable dynamism in the Bolivian economy.
As for imports, US$13.049 billion n value was registered, of which 52% comprises industrial supplies, inputs for production, and transportation equipment such as tractors and harvesters for the agricultural sector.
Bolivia is a historical exporter of minerals and hydrocarbons, but in 2022 it managed to change its export supply matrix with agricultural products.
With information from Sputnik