Bolivia Economy 1997

Economy - overview With its long history of semifeudal social controls, dependence on volatileprices for its mineral exports, and bouts of hyperinflation, Bolivia has remainedone of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries. However,Bolivia has experienced generally improving economic conditions since thePAZ Estenssoro administration (1985-89) introduced market-oriented policieswhich reduced inflation from 11,700% in 1985 to about 20% in 1988. PAZ Estenssorowas followed as president by Jaime PAZ Zamora (1989-93) who continued thefree-market policies of his predecessor, despite opposition from his own partyand from Bolivia's once powerful labor movement. By maintaining fiscal discipline,PAZ Zamora helped reduce inflation to 9.3% in 1993, while GDP grew by an annualaverage of 3.25% during his tenure. Inaugurated in August 1993, PresidentSANCHEZ DE LOZADA has vowed to advance the market-oriented economic reformshe helped launch as PAZ Estenssoro's planning minister. His successes includethe signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and the Southern Cone CommonMarket (Mercosur) as well as the privatization of the state airline, phone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. Furthermore,SANCHEZ DE LOZADA sponsored legislation creating private social security accountsfor all adult Bolivians and capitalized these new accounts with the state'sremaining 50% share in the privatized companies.

GDP purchasing power parity - $21.5 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 3.9% (1996)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $3,000 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 17%
industry: 31%
services : 52% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 8% (1996)

Labor force
total: 2.3 million
by occupation: agriculture NA%, services and utilities NA%, manufacturing, mining andconstruction NA%

Unemployment rate 18.8% (1995 est.)

Budget
revenues: $3.75 billion
expenditures : $3.75 billion, including capital expenditures of $556.2 million (1995est.)

Industries mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts,clothing

Industrial production growth rate 4% (1995 est.)

Electricity - capacity 804,300 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 3.02 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 334 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber

Exports
total value: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: metals 39%, natural gas 9%, soybeans 11%, jewelry 11%, wood 8%
partners: US 26%, Argentina 17%, UK 15%, Peru 14% (1995)

Imports
total value : $1.4 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities: capital goods 48%, chemicals 11%, petroleum 5%, food 5% (1993 est.)
partners: US 18%, Brazil 15%, Japan 13%, Argentina 8% (1995)

Debt - external $4.3 billion (November 1996)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $362 million (1993)

Currency 1 boliviano ($B) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates bolivianos ($B) per US$1 - 5.1720 (November 1996), 4.8003 (1995), 4.6205(1994), 4.2651 (1993), 3.9005 (1992)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Bolivia on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Bolivia Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Bolivia Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.