Bolivia: De Facto Government Left 4 Bln in Losses

"We are rebuilding the economy. The downturn of 2020, with a percentage variation of minus 9 percent, had not been seen in more than four decades. It is a drop of more than 4 billion dollars," Bolivia's Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro said.

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Bolivia had to export or die, told Montenegro, adding that Añez could not carry out that plan to manage the economy, so that, in the first quarter of 2020, when there was no COVID pandemic, the economy of the Andean country didn't grow.

In turn, Omar Yuja, a member of the Economic Commission of Bolivian Deputies, informed that the de facto government left Bolivia with a 12.7 percent fiscal deficit, which is the highest percentage in the last decades, he said.

Bolivia, which at the time was in first place in terms of regional growth, fell to seventh place during the Añez government, Yujra lamented. Previously, Bolivian President Luis Arce had denounced that Añez left the country with almost empty state coffers, with debts to the Central Bank of Bolivia, foreign companies, and suppliers.

The Minister of Economy, Marcelo Montenegro, points out that the economy fell by $4 billion due to the crisis, but now there are signs of reactivation in the economy.

Arce was Evo Morales' Minister of Economy between 2006 and 2017 and again in 2019. During that period, Bolivia achieved broad economic success in the region. However, all this growth and economic boom declined, after Áñez self-proclaimed herself president of the Andean country, following a coup d'état that forced Evo Morales to resign as head of state.