President Evo Morales announced yesterday in a press conference that he would launch a “national dialogue” to lower or eliminate Bolivia’s substantial subsidies for natural gas, gasoline, and diesel. He added that any reductions in the subsidy would be gradual and not a “gasolinazo” like he attempted  on December 26 of 2010 and quickly withdrew. [...]

President Morales has created a government-owned construction company called ECB by passing Supreme Decree 1020 that will compete with private companies for large contracts in the country. Private construction company leaders expressed grave concerns about the fairness of competing against a government-run company and speculated on whether it would complete works on quality on a [...]

On Friday, October 28th, Evo Morales said that if government owned business cannot poorly performing and “putting in question the quality of the government administration” then they risk the possibility of privatization. Morales made these remarks while celebrating the opening of an artificial turf stadium in El Alto. “If the managers and workers of public [...]

The Brazilian government is waiting for its Bolivian counterpart to find an alternative project to the Villa Tunari–San Ignacio de Moxos highway. That project, which would traverse the TIPNIS indigenous territory, was recently canceled after massive protests and a march on the capital that lasted 65 days. “From the standpoint of the Brazilian government, it [...]

Yesterday, the Bolivian National Load Dispatch (CNDC), the state entity responsible for the nation’s energy grid, ordered distribution companies and large businesses to ration power, which had the immediate repercussions of blackouts in Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí, and Sucre. In a announcement to the entire nation, the CNDC reported that the determination [...]

The national 24-hour strike by the COB, Bolivia’s largest labor union, in support of the Tipnis indigenous protestors, partially started today, although the main capitals of the scity have not yet began to feel its effect. Union workers said that it the strike will apply more pressure throughout the morning. The executive secretary of the [...]

The exportation of Bolivian woods is diminishing: From January to August 2011, the sale of wood products (including laminates, doors, cut wood, floors, and furniture) has dropped more than US$10 million, principally to markets in the United States and China, a result of timber regulations, legal insecurity, and the pace of forest-origination certifications, according to [...]

Today ex-Brazilian President Lula Da Silva will meet with President Evo Morales to talk about important subjects such as the Brazilian-financed Amazonian highway Morales is constructing through a national park despite furious indigenous opposition. They will have dinner together and then Lula will attend an international economic forum. Lula’s visit corresponds with an indigenous march [...]

Today, the Ministry of Public Finances and Economics reported that Bolivians in Tarija department have the highest income in the country, with US$3,920 earned annually per capita. Residents in Oruro earn US$2,159 annually per capita, and Pando residents US$1,965. Also according to official data released today, residents in Santa Cruz department earned US$1,731 annually per [...]

Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil company, has ruled out selling its assets in Bolivia, according to a Reuters article. Petrobras CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli said last week that the company would sell off US$13.6 billion in assets, leading to speculation that its properties in Bolivia would be on the chopping block. But asked yesterday if [...]