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QUICK FACTS:

Name: Plurinational State of Bolivia
Population: 10.4 million (2010 estimates)
Capital: La Paz (administrative), Sucre (official).
Other important cities: Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, El Alto.
Area: 1 098 580 km².
Currency: Boliviano
GDP per capita: US$ 1 973 (2010 figures)
Exports: natural gas, zinc, gold, silver, soy, textiles, almonds, wooden furniture
Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara and Guaraní, amongst others.
Religion: independent from the State, with a majority Catholic population
Life expectancy: 66

WB Development Indicators 

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

Over the last few years a profound constitutional reform has been approved which is aimed at empowering excluded groups, promoting greater decentralization, and broadening social participation. Various social programs have been implemented. Also, the hydrocarbons sector, electric energy, telecoms and the cement industry have been partially nationalized, and state firms have been created to impulse the development of various productive sectors, improve the provision of some public services and guarantee food security.

The measures adopted have been well received by most people, especially those living in the country’s western regions, with larger indigenous populations.

Furthermore, these social programs have allowed the governing party to win support in the traditionally opposing lowland regions, making it easier for President Morales to be re-elected in December 2009. The ruling party also secured an absolute majority in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Subsequently, this support was reflected in the April 2010 departmental and municipal elections, where the governing party gained six of the nine regional governorates.

However, several local opposition leaders won some of the largest municipalities, particularly in the departmental capital cities, including in some traditional government strongholds in the country’s western highlands. Moreover, in recent years, some social groups traditionally supportive of the government have staged protests demanding specific investment projects and opposing some of the government’s policies such as the attempt to reduce fuel subsidies (which was reversed after strong conflicts) and the road construction project which would pass through a protected area.

ECONOMY:

Despite the international crisis, Bolivia benefitted from very favorable external conditions between 2006 and 2010. During this period, average growth was 4.6 percent. Bolivia also gained important fiscal surpluses and current accounts due to the high prices of raw materials, higher remittances and the beginning of operations at the San Cristóbal mining project.

During 2011 Bolivia is being favored by the gradual recovery of international prices and export volumes to Brazil. International reserves have increased from $9.7 billion at the end of 2010 to $11 billion in July 2011 due to a growing external surplus-the current account surplus rose from $236 million in the first quarter of 2010 to $902 million in the same period of 2011. As a result of higher hydrocarbons revenues, the fiscal surplus increased from 1 percent of GDP in the first five months of 2010 to 4 percent in the same period of 2011. Economic activity grew 5.4 percent in the first four months of 2011 driven by the hydrocarbons sector and the tax revenues it generates. 

To enhance the benefits gained from this context, the government is trying to push a number of productive Projects whose implementation will require greater efficiency in public administration and state enterprises, as well as greater participation from the private sector

External links:
Ministry of Economy and Public Finances (in Spanish)
Central Bank of Bolivia (in Spanish)
National Statistics Institute (In Spanish)
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (in Spanish)

WORLD BANK SUPPORT:

The World Bank has undertaken a series of consultations with authorities from the Plurinationl State of Bolivia, civil society organizations (exchange spaces) and members of the international cooperation, to allow for the preparation of a Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2012-2015. This strategy will guide the Bank’s activities in Bolivia over the next four years. 

 

PROJECTS:

Currently, the World Bank supports Bolivia with 13 investment projects for a committed total of almost $445 million. The Sustainable Development sector represents 78 percent of the portfolio and includes nine projects. The Human Development sector has three projects and the Governance and Support to the Public sector has one investment project.

 

Sustainable Development

The Agricultural Innovation and Services Project (PISA) will benefit the economically active population in Bolivia’s rural areas. By strengthening the capacity of the National Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Innovation (INIAF), strengthening technical assistance programs for producers (availability of new technologies) and investments in the collection and preservation of genetic resources (certified seeds), PISA seeks to enhance the income generation of Bolivian families who depend of agricultural and forestry activities.

The Community Investment in Rural Areas Project (PICAR) addresses the priority concerns in the poorest rural areas of Bolivia. It will contribute to improving access to sustainable infrastructure and basic services in disadvantaged rural communities in 51 of the poorest municipalities in La Paz, Oruro, Chuquisaca and Cochabamba. These communities will identify, prepare, implement and give sustainability to development subprojects that respond to their priorities, based on the approach to development managed by them themselves, bringing a new modality of beneficiary participation. This is the first large scale operation in Bolivia that will involve the direct transfer of investment funds to rural communities for their own management.

The National Roads and Airport Infrastructure Project will permit the improvement of the route between San Buenaventura and Ixiamas in the Northern Amazon zone of La Paz. Due to rains this road suffers damage for almost six months of every year (November to April), however with the planned improvements, the project will significantly reduce travel time (increasing average speed from 35 to 85 kilometers per hour for cars and light trucks and from 20 to 60 kilometers per hour for heavy trucks). The works will cover a total of 113.6 km and will include the asphalt paving of the road, the rehabilitation of drains and other structures, and the construction of 21 bridges. The project will also work on improving Rurrenabaque Airport which serves an intermediary population, has a limited infrastructure, and a lack of basic protection and security equipment, resulting in constant flight cancellations mainly due to bad weather. With the planned improvements, it is expected that 90 percent of scheduled flights will happen.

 
The Rural Alliances Project (PAR) which counts on an additional financing, is considered successful by both the Bank and the country as it responds to the demands of peasant and indigenous groups requiring support for productive activities. It allows for increased incomes and employment in rural areas by providing tools and knowledge to increase market accessibility in a sustainable way and within a framework of social and cultural equity. To achieve this, the project promotes strategic productive alliances between different economic actors at the local level; it trains rural producers through strengthening fundamental self-management organizations; increases access to productive goods and technology; and promotes more effective, responsible and reliable service organizations at the local level.

The Sustainable Development of Lake Titicaca Project contributes to the local sustainable development of the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. This involves facilitating local activities that support tourism development and cultural protection of the communities surrounding the lake, as well as improving basic water and sanitation services. The project specifically supports improvements to local tourism services and the protection of the cultural heritage in order to meet the minimum ten percent improvements over the baseline data from the geo-touristic survey carried out in 2007. The Project also supports the sustainable provision of basic services (supply of drinking water, sewage and sanitation, and solid waste management) to 150, 000 people (with new services for 50, 000 beneficiaries and improvements to services for the remaining 100, 000 beneficiaries).

The Second Participatory Rural Investment Project aims to consolidate institutional agreements between the national government, the departmental governorates and municipalities, and civil society for the sustainable administration of sub-national public investments in selected productive sectors, with emphasis on territorial development.
The Emergency Recovery and Disaster Management Project supports the implementation of the National Rehabilitation and Sustainable Reconstruction Plan (PRRES) and contributes to the restoration of access to basic infrastructure for a portion of the affected population in five selected regions. It also strengthens the government’s capacity to respond to future disasters at the national, sector and municipal levels across the country. These objectives are achieved through strengthening the National Risk Management System (establishing capacities at the national, sector, and sub-national levels) and small rehabilitation, reconstruction and mitigation works.

The Land for Agricultural Development Project aims to establish a mechanism for decentralized land distribution driven by the beneficiaries. In this way it hopes to enable organized peasants to acquire adequate areas of agricultural land and to implement investment subprojects that put them in a situation where they can count on improved livelihoods and higher incomes.

The Urban Infrastructure Project improves access to basic services for the poorest urban residents in Bolivia’s three largest cities. It finances the overall improvement of 18 neighborhoods in La Paz, improvements to transport infrastructure in the city of El Alto and the expansion of the basic sanitation network in Santa Cruz.

Human Development

The Investment in Children and Youth Project seeks to assist the government in strengthening the effectiveness of its social protection system. In this context, its objectives are: to contribute to reducing the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children aged 0 – 2 living in the country’s most vulnerable rural areas; to improve the management and operation of a skills development program for low income youth in order to improve their ability to find and keep quality jobs; and to improve the governments capacity to design and administer a measurable, effective and consistent social protection network in the medium term.

The Improved Access to Reduce Inequalities in Health Project III has four objectives: to reduce the incidence of critical risk factors that affect maternal and infant health in selected areas in order to help close regional gaps; to reduce chronic malnutrition in children under two in selected areas; to increase health insurance coverage in selected areas; and to update the National Health Information System (SNIS) so that it is integrated with Bolivia’s new health insurance program.

The Secondary Education Transformation Project in the La Paz Municipality supports the educational strategy of the Autonomous Municipal Governorate of La Paz, increasing the number of available spaces in schools and providing direct teaching support to students at risk of dropping out. This project also seeks to improve the quality of secondary education by rehabilitating infrastructure, developing programs to strengthen educational communities and establishing alliances to create a platform of teaching resources. It also aims to strengthen the decentralized administrative capacity of the Municipality of La Paz.

Governance and Support to the Public sector

The Strengthening the Statistical Capacity and Information Base for Evidence Based Planning Project aims to strengthen the recipient’s statistical capacity and improve the information base in order to provide quality information defined by its reliability, punctuality, accuracy and representativeness at the disaggregated level necessary to support planning and design systems, monitoring and evaluation programs and public policies. This project will support four fundamental operations of the National Statistical Information System (SNIE), which will be executed by the National Statistics Institute (INE). They are:

• The updating of multi-purpose cartography
• The national Agricultural Census
• The National Population and Housing Census
• Improving the Continual Household Survey to generate representative statistics at the country’s nine departmental levels and across its four major cities

All Projects from Bolivia by year
Economic and Sector Work 
All Projects 

CONTACTS:

Gabriela Orozco Ruiz
Communications Associated

Email: gorozcoruiz@worldbank.org

Address: Calle Fdo. Guachalla, 342, Edificio Víctor, piso 9.

Tel: (591-2) 261 3347
Fax: (591-2) 261 3305

VISIT:

WB Bolivia Site
WB Bolivia Site (en español)