Economy of Bolivia

Economy of Bolivia
La Paz, the financial centre of Bolivia
CurrencyBolivian Boliviano (BOB)
Calendar year
Trade organizations
WTO, CAN, UNASUR, Mercosur
Country group
Statistics
PopulationIncrease 12,290,945 (2024)[3]
GDP
  • Increase $105 billion (nominal, 2024)[3]
  • Increase $131.422 billion (PPP, 2024)[3]
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 4.2% (2018) 2.7% (2019e)
  • −5.9% (2020f) 2.2% (2021f)[4]
GDP per capita
  • Increase $4,014 (nominal, 2024)[3]
  • Increase $10,693 (PPP, 2024)[3]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
3.1% (2020 est.)[3]
Population below poverty line
  • Positive decrease 36.4% (2021)[6]
  • Positive decrease 10.6% on less than $3.20/day (2018)[7]
Positive decrease 40.9 medium (2018)[8]
Labor force
  • Increase 5,423,333 (2019)[10]
  • Increase 69.3% employment rate (2018)[11]
Labor force by occupation
Unemployment
  • Steady 4% (2017 est.)[5]
  • note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
Main industries
mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing, jewelry
External
ExportsIncrease $9.060 billion (2018 est.)[12]
Export goods
natural gas, silver, zinc, lead, tin, gold, quinoa, soybeans and soy products
Main export partners
1. India: 16.5%

2. Brazil: 13.7%
3. Argentina: 12.8%
4. Colombia: 7.69%
5. Japan: 7.00%
6. Peru: 6.43%
7. China: 4.67%
8. South Korea: 3.91%
9. United Arab Emirates: 3.73%
10. Ecuador: 3.01%
11. United States: 2.83%
12. Netherlands: 1.79%
13. Chile: 1.77%
14. Belgium: 1.72%
15. Australia: 1.41%
16. Italy: 1.34%
17. Spain: 1.19%
18. United Kingdom: 1.17%
19. Hong Kong: 1.01%
20. Turkey: 0.98%

  • Other Countries: 5.35% (2022)[13]
ImportsIncrease $9.996 billion (2019 est.)[12]
Import goods
machinery, petroleum products, vehicles, iron and steel, plastics
Main import partners
1. Brazil: 19.7%

2. China: 19.3%
3. Chile: 13.0%
4. Peru: 8.74%
5. Argentina: 5.98%
6. United States: 5.85%
7. Singapore: 2.43%
8. Germany: 2.15%
9. Mexico: 2.03%
10. Japan: 1.81%
11. Colombia: 1.59%
12. Spain: 1.36%
13. India: 1.33%
14. Italy: 1.05%
15. Paraguay: 1.04%
16. Netherlands: 1.03%
17. Russia: 0.83%
18. South Korea: 0.71%
19. Thailand: 0.70%
20. Uruguay: 0.65%

  • Other Countries: 8.72% (2022)[14]
FDI stock
  • Increase $12.31 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
  • Steady Abroad: $0 (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
Decrease −$2.375 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Negative increase $12.81 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
Public finances
Positive decrease 24.5% of GDP (2019 est.)[5] [note 1]
−7.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)[5]
Revenues15.09 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Expenses18.02 billion (2017 est.)[5]
Economic aidrecipient: $726 million (2009 est.)[15]
B+ (Domestic)
B+ (Foreign)
B+ (T&C Assessment)
(Standard & Poor's)[16]
Increase $10.26 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[5]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Bolivia is the 95th-largest in the world in nominal terms and the 87th-largest in purchasing power parity. Bolivia is classified by the World Bank to be a lower middle income country.[17] With a Human Development Index of 0.703, it is ranked 114th (high human development).[18] Driven largely by its natural resources, Bolivia has become a region leader in measures of economic growth, fiscal stability and foreign reserves,[19] although it remains a historically poor country. The Bolivian economy has had a historic single-commodity focus.[20] From silver to tin to coca, Bolivia has enjoyed only occasional periods of economic diversification.[20] Political instability and difficult topography have constrained efforts to modernize the agricultural sector.[20] Similarly, relatively low population growth coupled with low life expectancy has kept the labor supply in flux and prevented industries from flourishing.[20] Rampant inflation and corruption previously created development challenges,[20] but in the early twenty-first century the fundamentals of its economy showed unexpected improvement, leading Moody's Investors Service to upgrade Bolivia's economic rating in 2010 from B2 to B1.[21] The mining industry, especially the extraction of natural gas and zinc, currently dominates Bolivia's export economy.[20]

Between 2006 and 2019 (term of the presidency of the democratic socialist Evo Morales), GDP per capita doubled and the extreme poverty rate declined from 38% to 18%.[22] The poverty rate declined from 22.23% in 2000 to 12.38% in 2010.[23] Moreover, the Gini coefficient declined from 0.60 to 0.446.[24] According to the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade, Bolivia had the lowest accumulated inflation of Latin America by October 2021.[25][26][27]

  1. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". World Bank. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: April 2024". International Monetary Fund.
  4. ^ Global Economic Prospects, June 2020. World Bank. 8 June 2020. p. 86. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1553-9. ISBN 978-1-4648-1553-9. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Bolivia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) - Bolivia". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at $3.20 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population) – Bolivia". World Bank. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  8. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate)". World Bank. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Labor force, total – Bolivia". World Bank. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) – Bolivia". World Bank. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Instituto de Comercio Exterior – Bolivia"https://ibce.org.bo/publicaciones-ibcecifras-pdf.php?id=705 Archived 1 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Where does Bolivia export to? (2022)".
  14. ^ "Where does Bolivia import from? (2022)".
  15. ^ "Aid Statistics Bolivia". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  16. ^ "Sovereigns rating list". Standard & Poor's. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  17. ^ "Bolivia Overview". Archived from the original on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  18. ^ "Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical update". hdr.undp.org. United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  19. ^ Gustafson, Bret (2020). Bolivia in the Age of Gas. Duke University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4780-1099-9.
  20. ^ a b c d e f "Country Profile: Bolivia" (PDF). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. January 2006. Retrieved 5 November 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.}}
  21. ^ "Moody's upgrades Bolivia credit rating to B1". Reuters. 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  22. ^ patrick (7 October 2014). "Evo Morales en route pour un troisième mandat". Investig'Action.
  23. ^ "Taux de pauvreté Bolivie | Sciences Po Observatoire politique de l'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes". 19 September 2020.
  24. ^ "NOTICIAS - Prensa Latina".
  25. ^ "Bolivia Has The Lowest Inflation in Latin America". Kawsachun News. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  26. ^ "IMF recognizes Bolivia's strength in the face of Inflation - Prensa Latina". 26 May 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Boletín IBCE Cifras: Inflación en Bolivia". ibce.org.bo. Retrieved 26 October 2022.


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