Bolivia’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.13% in the second quarter of this year, a figure that, according to the Government of Luis Arce, “ratifies” the recovery of the country’s economy, but is not enough for the payment of the second Christmas bonus to workers.
The 4.13% registered in the second quarter exceeds the 3.97% registered in the first 3 months of 2022, highlighted this Wednesday by the Minister of Development Planning, Sergio Cusicanqui, in a press conference in La Paz.
“This ratifies the process of reconstruction of the economy, the return to the path of economic growth of our country, and thus also the return to economic stability,” he said.
According to Cusicanqui, domestic demand is one of the Bolivian economic growth’s fundamental pillars, contributing 2.3% to the quarterly percentage, while external demand contributed 1.8%.
Among the “most dynamic” sectors are transportation, restaurants and hotels, and construction.
The minister also pointed out that the figures reported for the second quarter “do not reach the parameter indicated in the decree” that instituted the double Christmas bonus, although he insisted that the 4.13% ratifies this return to the path of economic growth.
The double Christmas bonus is granted to Bolivia’s private and public sector workers when the country’s economic growth exceeds 4.5% from July one year to June the following year.
This measure, instituted in 2013 by the then Government of Evo Morales, has been celebrated by workers but criticized by the country’s businessmen, who argue that it has led to layoffs and the closure of small and medium-sized companies.
The private sector questions that the payment of the double aguinaldo has been established based on the GDP’s average growth because some sectors generate employment that has had bad years and do not grow at the same rate as others.
Between 2019 and 2021, the growth percentage for the double Christmas bonus was not reached, but it was in 2018, although the Executive regulated that 15% of the benefit be used to purchase national products, through a kind of virtual account of companies registered in a government program.
In addition, in 2018, the benefit was applied only to employees with a salary of less than the equivalent of US$2,155.