President Arce rejects IMF proposal and reaffirms the sovereignty of Bolivia’s economic model

On Friday, Bolivian President Luis Arce rejected the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations to rebalance the Bolivian economy and reaffirmed the sovereignty of the social-community productive economic model used by his government.

“Our social, community, and productive economic model is sovereign and continues to prove its success in reducing social and economic inequalities,” Arce wrote on his Twitter account.

The Bolivian president added, “for this reason, we do not accept the proposals of the IMF, which would harm the people, especially the working class.”

The IMF recommended in a report released Thursday that Bolivia analyzes the exchange rate of its currency (Bolivian) against the dollar, as parity has remained stable since 2011, and also review subsidies for some sectors of the economy and grants for the marketing of fuels.

Bolivian Minister of Economy and Public Finance Marcelo Montenegro issued a statement on Thursday stressing that the IMF recommendations, which also show contradictions between IMF directors regarding subsidies and aid, will not be followed in any case.

Montenegro described these reports as old recipes applied in previous decades during the so-called neoliberal governments but which have no place today, especially in Bolivia.

The Bolivian official ruled out flexibilization of the exchange rate and referred to the strength of the national currency as a reference point for stability, arguing that each country should conduct its economic and financial policy sovereignly and away from impositions such as those of the IMF.

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