Bolivia Economy 2008

Economy - overview:
Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalities and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company, which was made the sole exporter of natural gas. The law also required that the state energy company regain control over the five companies that were privatized during the 1990s - a process that is still underway. In 2006, higher earnings for mining and hydrocarbons exports pushed the current account surplus to about 12% of GDP and the government's higher tax take produced a fiscal surplus after years of large deficits. Debt relief from the G8 - announced in 2005 - also has significantly reduced Bolivia's public sector debt burden. Private investment as a share of GDP, however, remains among the lowest in Latin America, and inflation reached double-digit levels in 2007.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$39.78 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$12.8 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$4,400 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 14.5%
industry: 30.5%
services: 55% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
4.793 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 40%
industry: 17%
services: 43% (2006 est.)

Unemployment rate:
8% in urban areas; widespread underemployment (2006)

Population below poverty line:
60% (2006 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.3%
highest 10%: 47.2% (2002)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
59.2 (2006)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
12% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
13.4% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $4.1 billion
expenditures: $4 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt:
46.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Agriculture - products:
soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber

Industries:
mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing

Industrial production growth rate:
1.1% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:
5.293 billion kWh (2006)

Electricity - consumption:
3.385 billion kWh (2006)

Electricity - exports:
177,000 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
18,000 kWh (2007)

Oil - production:
41,570 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption:
31,500 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports:
18,500 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - imports:
8,600 bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - proved reserves:
440.5 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

natural gas - production:
12.74 billion cu m (2006 est.)

natural gas - consumption:
1.486 billion cu m (2007 est.)

natural gas - exports:
10.58 billion cu m (2006 est.)

natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2007 est.)

natural gas - proved reserves:
651.8 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
$1.325 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:
$4.259 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:
natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin

Exports - partners:
Brazil 45.6%, US 10.8%, Argentina 9.2%, Colombia 6.8%, Japan 5.5%, South Korea 4.3% (2006)

Imports:
$3.107 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - partners:
Brazil 29.3%, Argentina 16%, Chile 12.1%, US 9.1%, Peru 8.1% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$582.9 million (2005 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$4.917 billion (31 October 2007)

Debt - external:
$3.8 billion (31December 2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$6.88 billion (31 December 2004)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$NA

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$2.2 billion (2005)

Currency (code):
boliviano (BOB)

Exchange rates:
bolivianos per US dollar - 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004), 7.6592 (2003)