Bolivia closed 2021 with 0.90% cumulative inflation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that last December the country registered an increase of 0.16% over November, reaching a cumulative annual increase of 0.90% compared to 0.67% in 2020.

In December, the sector with the highest increase in costs was transport with 1.11%, followed by clothing with 0.78%, recreation and culture with 0.49%, and goods, furniture and household services with 0.30%.

Items such as health, housing, education and food had a lower incidence with rates ranging between 0.09% and 0.20% increase.

The report also details the behavior of monthly inflation in December by regions with 0.45% reported in the metropolitan area of Cochabamba, in the center of the country, 0.43% in Potosi, and 0.27% in the neighboring cities of La Paz and El Alto.

In addition, metropolitan regions such as Santa Cruz, the country’s most populated, posted negative inflation of -0.08 %, Oruro with -0.01% and Cobija with -0.14%.

In addition, other annual reports showed a 12.8% increase in tax collections in 2021 due to the increase in contributions in sectors such as commerce, mining, construction and public works.

The government has established a budget of over US$5 billion for 2022 for projects such as post-pandemic economic recovery aimed at the productive sector (42.5%), public infrastructure (29.9%), social area (17.2%) and other sectors (10.5%).

According to official economic projections, Bolivia will grow by 5.1% in 2022, with a 3.4% inflation rate and a -8% fiscal deficit.