August 24, 2022, 8:44 PM
August 24, 2022, 8:44 PM
The Minister of Economy and Public Finance, Marcelo Montenegro, reported that the credit for $us 400 million as “Support for budget management” from CAF – Development Bank of Latin America will contribute to strengthening public investment. EL DEBER published today the information on the loan that the Government sought external credit support of $400 million to close that gap and the Chamber of Deputies validated the operation.
CAF credit It has a term of 18 years, 5.5 years of grace and an interest rate of 4.52%.. The credit request has already been approved in the Chamber of Deputies and was referred to the Chamber of Senators for its respective enactment.
“These resources will be allocated to public investment, we have our zinc separating plant and the Mutún project it is also in an important phase and we have other basic chemical investment projects in what it means, agricultural projects”, informed the authority at a press conference.
The document that endorses the CAF loan indicates: “The operation has the objective of contributing and promoting the availability and timely execution of the country’s public resources and assist with territorial budget management, support the fiscal management of the General Treasury of the Nation (TGN)”.
“This credit is aimed at contributing to the timely execution of Bolivian public resources”, CAF’s executive president, Sergio Díaz-Granados, said when he announced the availability of resources in favor of the Government’s finances.
The government projects a public investment of US$ 5,015 million, most of it is destined to the execution of infrastructure projects and productive projects to help boost the country’s economy.
The Minister of Economy remarked that the Government makes extreme efforts to preserve price stability taking into account the environment of uncertainty with high inflation rates and the announcement of a recession in some economies due to the adverse international context.
Montenegro explained that the international financial entities, prior to the approval of a loan, They evaluate the main economic indicators of the country to demonstrate the solvency of the financial statements.
In this regard, the minister explained that as of June 2022, Bolivia has a positive trade balance of US$1.22 billion and compared to the same period in 2021, an increase of 32% is observed. However, he did not mention the fiscal deficit.
The operation was questioned by the opposition. “We have rejected it because we believe that it is no longer possible to continue indebting the country. That money will be to pay salaries, to be able to honor bonuses, because surely it is not enough for them and the Vice Minister of Planning (David Guachalla) told us that it is freely available and that it will be used by the Government for whatever they see fit. Surely, it will be to close the gap that exists, because this year there will also be a fiscal deficit, ”said deputy José Luis Porcel, of the Citizen Community (CC), yesterday.
Likewise, he mentioned that billed hotel sales increased from US$31 million in June 2021 to US$45 million as of June 2022, air ticket sales rose from US$96 million to US$195 million during the indicated period. . He maintained that to July 2022, Bolivia registered an accumulated inflation of 1.6%, one of the lowest indicators in the region.
Tax collections increased from Bs 29,187 million accumulated as of July 2021 to Bs 35,694 million as of July 2022.
Thus, Montenegro recalled that Bolivia requests the credit with robust and sustainable indicators, indicators that international entities also evaluate before approving the granting of credits.
The Government prioritized at the time the granting of economic resources for the purchase of vaccines and medical supplies for the fight against Covid-19 and the strengthening of health programs; spending Bs 3,178 million between November 2020 and December 2021, and budgeting Bs 3,598 million for the current management.
