Bolivia to Spend $6.8B to Fight Poverty

Picture: Estepas Bolivianas
By: NEB / Bolivia Now

Article published on THE WASHINGTON POST
By FIONA SMITH
The Associated Press
Saturday, June 17, 2006; 9:46 AM
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Bolivian President Evo Morales' leftist government says it will fight poverty, hunger and homelessness in South America's poorest nation by investing $6.8 billion through 2010, much of it with ambitious public works projects.
The funding will come chiefly from Bolivia's recently nationalized natural gas wealth, with international lenders and foreign investment also important sources.
The development plan, announced Friday, would significantly boost the state's role in the economy, creating jobs and delivering more basic public services such as subsidized meals for school children and greater access to potable water.
Bolivia will be "dismantling the neoliberal policies that have impregnated Bolivia in recent decades in order to build a social and communal state to live well," Carlos Villegas, the planning and development minister, told a crowd of dignitaries at the presidential palace that included foreign diplomats and representatives of the country's indigenous poor.
Although Villegas didn't mention Venezuela by name, many of the social projects he mentioned are similar to programs created by that country's leftist president, Hugo Chavez.
The administration already has about 60 percent to 70 percent of the funds it plans to invest over the next few years in projects beginning with housing and highway construction and including the creation of a metallurgy industry and the retooling of Bolivia's electrical grid, Villegas told The Associated Press.
The rest would come from international lenders, said Villegas, who are to convene jointly with the government in the last quarter of 2006 to work out details.
It was unclear whether the government, which is currently in testy negotiations with Brazil and Argentina over natural gas price increases, will be able to cover all the plan's costs.
Foreign diplomats said much would depend on Bolivia's gas revenues. The vice minister of planning and development, Noel Aguirre, said the plan was also predicated on gas sale revenues from Paraguay.
He said Bolivia was also negotiating to sell gas to European and Asian countries he would not name.
With the heavy public investment, the government hopes to create 90,000 jobs per year and cut the current 8.4 percent unemployment rate by more than half by 2011.
Over the same period, it also wants to drop the poverty rate to just under 50 percent from the current 59 percent and close the gap between the rich and the poor.

Currently, the top 10 percent of Bolivians earn 25 times what the bottom 10 percent. The government seeks to reduce that to 21 times by 2011.
In the next five years, the government also wants to nearly double Bolivia's gross domestic product growth rate from 4.1 percent in 2005 to 7.6 percent, reduce deficit spending from 3.1 percent to 2.1 percent, be self-sufficient in agricultural production, bring electricity and gas to hundreds of thousands of families, create a state development bank and build more roads.
"We need to get into more depth to know whether we'd support this or not," said Roberto Mustafa, president of The Association of Private Business Leaders of Bolivia, one of the country's biggest industry groups.
"We've heard the what, but we still need to know the how _ and with what," he said.
Business leaders have been critical of Morales' economics, especially after he said he would "never" negotiate a free trade agreement with the United States, instead signing an alternative "people's" trade pact with his close allies Venezuela and Cuba.
The government changed its position Friday, however. Celinda Sosa, the country's minister of production and small business, told reporters Bolivia would like a trade deal with Washington.
While the export of raw materials such as minerals and timber are important to Bolivia's economy, it depends most on its vast natural gas reserves.
Morales nationalized Bolivia's natural sector on May 1, giving the state energy company majority control over all operations and telling foreign companies operating in Bolivia they had six months to negotiate new contracts or leave.
In the mining sector, Villegas reiterated earlier statements that the government would be looking to boost revenues by raising mining taxes and would revert unused mines back to state control.
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Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.

Bill Clinton defiende las reformas del Gobierno de Evo Morales en Bolivia

Fotografia: "Un largo camino por recorrer" Por: NEB / Bolivia Now
Articulo publicado en TERRA en Julio 16, 2006


El ex presidente de Estados Unidos Bill Clinton (1993-2001) defendió las reformas que lleva a cabo el Gobierno de Evo Morales en Bolivia al ser interrogado por un periodista, quien le pidió su opinión sobre la actualidad política del país andino y sobre la decisión de Morales de nacionalizar los hidrocarburos.

"¿Qué haría si fuese un minero boliviano que trabaja 60 horas por semana y tiene que alimentar a cuatro hijos que no tienen perspectivas de progreso? (...) ¿Por quién hubiese votado usted", respondió Clinton al periodista.

A juicio del ex presidente norteamericano, un mandatario puede nacionalizar recursos naturales y repartir dinero entre sus ciudadanos. Sin embargo, si no hace otras reformas necesarias, los pobres seguirán viviendo en tierras sin título, sin acceso al crédito formal y sin posibilidades de generar riqueza.

Clinton recomendó a los presidentes de Latinoamérica realizar reformas microeconómicas que permitan a las personas de escasos ingresos acceder a la clase media, en lugar de entrar en un debate entre disciplina fiscal y gasto social. El ex mandatario de Estados Unidos prevé gran potencial para esta región como fuente de alimentos y fuentes de energías limpias, como el etanol.

A su entender, ninguno de los dos modelos económicos seguidos por Latinoamérica --uno caracterizado por un conservadorismo fiscal extremo y otro por un gasto público desmedido-- logró cerrar la brecha entre ricos y pobres, la más pronunciada del mundo.

"Si se encierran en el debate del pasado, es decir, responsabilidad fiscal versus gasto social, van a desilusionarse porque no van a reducir la desigualdad de ninguna de las dos maneras. No es cuestión simplemente de tomar los bienes del estado o los bienes de los ricos. Lo deseable es empoderar (dar poder) a los pobres para que puedan generar riqueza y llegar a la clase media", reflexionó.

Según el ex mandatario, el proceso de reformas microeconómicas sólo puede hacerse mediante el sistema de prueba y error y requiere un compromiso a largo plazo de gobiernos nacionales e instituciones internacionales que ayude a crear las condiciones propicias para que los emprendedores más pobres puedan prosperar. Entre ellas señaló la identificación de las personas, el reconocimiento legal de los derechos de propiedad, la eliminación de barreras burocráticas a la creación de empresas y el cumplimiento de los contratos.

"Creo que tenemos que tener una estrategia triangular: necesitamos suficiente responsabilidad fiscal como para atraer capital, estabilizar el país y no distorsionar los ingresos de las personas", consideró Clinton.

"Dentro de ese marco, necesitamos invertir tanto como sea posible e inteligentemente en programas sociales que funcionan, por ejemplo los que brindan incentivos monetarios a los pobres para que mantengan a sus hijos en la escuela", agregó, mencionando como ejemplos a dos programas sociales apoyados por el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), Bolsa Familia de Brasil y Oportunidades de México.