The administration of Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora is taking decisive actions to prevent the local currency from further devaluation against the US dollar, according to Planning Minister Sergio Cusicanqui. Cusicanqui stated on Sunday that in response to speculative pressures on the US dollar, the government must analyze the situation and implement additional measures.
The Financial System Supervisory Authority has been tasked with assessing and recommending actions to normalize the currency exchange market. While Bolivia’s Central Bank maintains an official exchange rate of B$ 6.96 per US dollar, black market rates have soared to at least B$ 10 per US dollar.
Cusicanqui emphasized that since April, Bolivia has balanced its trade and achieved a US$ 68 million surplus in May, which should increase the availability of US dollars in the market. He also mentioned that the government has engaged the Confederation of Private Businessmen of Bolivia to collaborate on necessary measures, highlighting that despite challenges, Bolivia’s economy has grown and kept inflation relatively low. He attributed recent price increases of imported goods to external factors like rising freight costs, causing “imported inflation.”
Former President Evo Morales criticized Arce’s administration, claiming it lacked an emergency plan and that public companies were deliberately driven into financial trouble to justify privatization. Morales argued that the current government was more focused on preventing his return to office than on the nation’s future, suggesting that there might be an intentional effort to undermine public companies to favor privatization.
“I can even think they are destroying public companies to justify the right-wing agenda or the return of transnationals. That is my suspicion,” Morales commented.
