US EditionBolivia Removes Fuel Subsidies and Sets New Prices with Social Protections
Fuel prices rose up to 160% as subsidies end; social protections include a 20% minimum wage increase and cash transfers for vulnerable families, President Paz said.
- On Dec 17, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz announced removal of long-standing fuel subsidies in a nationwide address from La Paz and issued an emergency decree targeting agriculture and business sectors.
- Years of cheap subsidized fuel and declining gas output drained foreign reserves, causing fuel and dollar shortages that weighed on the economy, the government said, as inflation soars above 20%.
- Oil and Gas Minister Mauricio Medinaceli said prices would be fixed for six months after diesel and premium gasoline rose about 86% and more than 160%.
- The government says the cuts will generate additional fiscal resources for central and regional governments, empower the Bolivian central bank to secure liquidity and carry out currency swaps recently discussed with US officials, and allow direct diesel imports as state-run oil company YPFB struggles to supply.
- Alongside cuts, the government announced a 20% minimum wage increase next year, Renta Dignidad and school bonus rises, 15-year investor guarantees, and a possible shift from the fixed 6.96 bolivianos per dollar rate.
40 Articles
40 Articles
The new government of Bolivia in charge of Rodrigo Paz declared an economic emergency and issued a series of radical measures, including the elimination of fuel subsidies and the easing of the exchange rate regime.The measure caused an 86 percent increase in the price of gasoline and more than 160 percent in that of diesel, the sharpest price adjustments of energy in the recent history of the country.The reforms announced by President Rodrigo Pa…
Bolivia’s Economic Emergency Sparks A Fuel Shock And Currency Shift
Key Points An economic emergency decree ended fuel subsidies, lifting gasoline about 86% and diesel about 163% overnight. The government ordered a transition to a “new exchange-rate regime,” putting the fixed official rate in doubt. Wage and benefit increases aim to cushion households as officials promise stronger investor protections. President Rodrigo Paz declared an economic […]
The new government of Bolivia announced on Wednesday the end of fuel subsidies, a policy that kept the prices of gasoline and diesel frozen for almost 20 years under the left-wing administrations that preceded the current management. Read more]]>
"This measure does not mean a state-of-the-art leave, but means order and law; a real, clear and transparent redistribution," said the President of Bolivia in a transmission addressed to the entire nation. Although President Paz pointed out that the technical details of the measures will be established by a future government decree, the elimination of subsidies appears to be immediately applied to the agricultural and business sectors. This appr…
The new Bolivian president, Rodrigo Paz, announced the end of fuel subsidies in the country, along with a series of additional economic measures. Among these, an increase of 20% of the national minimum wage, which will increase from 2,750 to 3. (ANSA)
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