Luis Escobar / La Paz
The Mayor’s Office collected 200 million bolivianos for the collection of property taxes on vehicles and real estate. With that amount, the commune explained that its “finances are healthy”, that is to say that it is coming out of the financial crisis that afflicted it last year.
“We have more than 200 million (Bolivians) collected from the collection of real estate and vehicles,” said the general advisor to the Mayor’s Office, Óscar Navarro.
The management of Mayor Iván Arias went through a liquidity problem last year. “The management of (Luis) Revilla collected the taxes in advance (at the end of 2020). We had that liquidity problem (last year), but with the normal collection that we have, our finances are healthy”, declared Navarro.
He stated that they received a rating of “AA-” from Fitch Ratings. “This shows that we have greater solvency and credibility than the country itself (the MAS government) has through sovereign bonds,” he declared.
This rating allows the Mayor’s Office to access financial markets with low interest rates. “The one who gives the credit evaluates what the payment capacity is. This Fitch rating says that our payment capacity is good and therefore interest rates are good”, he stated.
He indicated that the credit of 175 million Bolivians obtained by the Mayor’s Office of Banco Bisa is 5.4% annual interest with a 10-year term and grace management. “It is a lower rate than the one that the national government exchanged the bonds with a rate of 7.5%,” he said, indicating that they expect to collect 600 million Bolivians for the payment of both taxes until the end of the year.
