Bolivian government rules out currency devaluation and stresses its strength

Bolivian Minister of Economy and Public Finance Marcelo Montenegro on Thursday ruled out flexibilizing the dollar exchange rate, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended significantly increasing resilience to market shocks, reiterating the strength of the national currency as a measure of stability.

Montenegro said the Bolivianization policy would be maintained, as he believes it promotes using federal money instead of the U.S. dollar in financial transactions.

“The exchange rate will remain unchanged. We don’t see the need to change the exchange rate; we have stability. That is why we will pursue the Bolivianization program,” Montenegro assured.

For over ten years, the exchange rate has remained unchanged at Bs6.86 for purchase and Bs6.96 for sale per dollar.

Montenegro stressed that each country must conduct its economic and financial policy in a sovereign manner and away from impositions like the IMF.

He recalled that in recent years some analysts recommended devaluation because it led to a loss of competitiveness and now recommend saving in Bolivianos.

Juan Pablo Saucedo, economist and foreign trade specialist, said that the most remarkable aspect of Bolivianization is keeping the national currency strong in the face of inflationary pressures and devaluations.

He believes that this monetary policy allowed the population to regain confidence in the national currency, so they would use it more often again instead of the dollar.

He acknowledged that the U.S. currency has not been the fundamental and influential indicator of financial and commercial transactions for more than a decade and has even become an inflationary factor, as it was in the past.

The last appreciation of the boliviano was recorded on November 2, 2011. From then until July 2022, the unit of U.S. currency will be quoted at 6.96 bolivianos when selling and 6.86 bolivianos when buying.