Bolivia will close 2018 with one of the highest economic growth rates in Latin America, with a growth of 4.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to official data. And in a surprising move, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has congratulated the South American country on its growth. Bolivia’s economy is among the greatest regional expansion, with the economic policies of Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera leading to a growth of 4.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Alvaro Garcia Linera, vice president of Bolivia, stated that the IMF “is an external source that checks our data and is proving that we are growing more than last year, but we have never paid attention to its recommendations nor are we going to pay attention to it, because our economic model is different from the economic model they are driving.”
The economic model followed by Bolivia is based on the Social Community Production, supported by a strong participation of the State in strategic sectors, which goes against the recommendations made by the IMF, which looks for the suppression of subsidies and the reduction of public investments.
The multilateral organism recognized that in the last 15 years Bolivia has achieved a “strong growth and poverty reduction,” adding that the country has a considerable accumulation of international reserves. “Since the fall in the price of commodities in 2014, the authorities have carried out accommodative fiscal and credit policies to support growth. This approach has been successful in maintaining solid growth,” the IMF said. The Bolivian economy registered on average a growth of 4.9 percent in the period 2006-2017, where more than three million people left poverty. The GDP registered a growth of 4.2 percent last year, according to the 2017 Bolivian Economy Report.
The Bolivian economy “goes up,” Garcia Linera stated, before adding that the IMF “had given us a 4 percent growth at the beginning of the year, 4.2 percent in June, and in December it is going to grow at 4.5 percent, ratifying what we had announced in advance and the Fund did not.”
