12 days after the postponement of the “gold purchase law for the strengthening of international reserves” project, the block of rinnovators of the MAS showed a predisposition to modify article 9 of the initiative that allows the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) to carry out international operations with gold. The group of radicals from the ruling party demanded two changes to pave the way for approval.
“They have asked that article 9 can be modified; We don’t have any problem, so we’re going to do it. This law yes or yes has to come out. We know very well that the international reserve is buying gold and in Bolivia we are behind. Let’s hope that the consensus to deal with in the Assembly will enter, ”said the deputy and head of the MAS bench, Andrés Flores.
The proposal in its article 9 states that: “The Central Bank of Bolivia will carry out operations in the international markets with the Gold Reserves, being able to buy, invest, deposit in custody, use hedging instruments, transform and convert them into currenciesin order to optimize the liquidity and/or the performance of the International Reserves”.
The bloc of radicals demanded that the questioned article should say that Any financial operation carried out by the Central Bank must be under the prior authorization of the Assembly Plurinational Legislative.
The second required modification is to article 6 of the project. They request that the wording be clear that the BCB will not carry out the regulation of the standardbut will be prepared by the Executive Branch.
The deputy of the radical wing of the MAS Freddy López reiterated that they are not opposed to the approval of the gold bill, but The Political Constitution of the State mandates the protection of natural resources.
The Government has been processing a law before the Plurinational Legislative Assembly since June 2022 for the purchase of gold produced by mining cooperatives; At the same time, it tries to modify Law 1670, which prevents the Executive from commercializing precious mineral reserves without the permission of the legislative body.
Deputy Carlos Alarcón, from CC, said that the economic policies promoted by the Government harm the situation of the country and sees that the project will be detrimental to international reserves.
