raise the minimum wage and eliminate the fuel subsidy

In a televised message, Paz announced that a decree was issued that he described as a “historic decision to save the homeland” that will allow “to act quickly, coordinate the State and take firm actions to stabilize the economy, protect Bolivian families and grow in production.”

“We assume the Government of a country deeply wounded in its economy, in its reserves, without dollars, with a rising inflation, no fuel and with a State that was emptied from within. Bolivia is sick, they devastated it like in the war. They left us alone, they looted us as a country,” said the president.

“The worst crisis in history”

Paz, who was sworn in on November 8, stated that he received a country with “the worst economic, financial, social and environmental crisis” of its history, with a “gigantic deficit, depleted international reserves”, public companies “looted and a State turned into loot by bandits who governed for themselves and not for the Bolivian people.

The president pointed out that the “economic, financial, energy and social emergency was declared because Bolivia could not continue functioning with norms of the last 20 years”, of the Governments of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), of Evo Morales (2006-2019) y Luis Arce (2020-2025).

“We have made a central decision, to protect the people’s pockets and provide certainty in energy and fuels, with clear prices and guaranteed supply,” said Paz and stressed the importance of “honest” hydrocarbon prices.

In Bolivia, the liter of diesel and gasoline It is sold at a subsidized price of around 0.53 dollars, which has remained stable for more than 20 years and which annually represents a cost to the State of more than 2,000 million dollars.

The decree announced by Paz establishes increases in the prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and diesel, and maintains the cost of a bottle of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at only 22.50 bolivianos (3.23 dollars).

Special gasoline will cost 6.96 bolivianos per liter, equivalent to one dollar; premium gasoline will be 11 bolivianos ($1.58); a liter of diesel at 9.80 bolivianos ($1.40); aviation gasoline at 10.57 bolivianos ($1.51) and jet fuel at 10.74 bolivianos ($1.54), which will be in effect for six months.

Paz also announced an “extraordinary regime of repatriation of capital with 0% taxes“, in order to recover liquidity and also said that exports will be released and diesel will be removed from the list of controlled substances to facilitate its import, among other measures

Furthermore, his Government ordered that from next January 2, the National minimum wage will rise 20%, from 2,750 to 3,300 bolivianos (395 to 474 dollars) and that the amount will be reviewed at the end of next year based on “real inflation data” and through dialogue with workers and private entrepreneurs.

The president maintained that the decree also “has a firm social heart,” since it provides for increases in Income Dignity for older adults, from the current 300 bolivianos to 500 bolivianos (from 43 to almost 72 dollars) and the Juancito Pinto Bonus, an annual incentive to prevent school dropouts, from 200 to 300 bolivianos (from 28.7 to 43 dollars).

Paz justified that “It is not welfare, it is helping families that were destroyed after the looting of the last 20 years.”

After the presidential message, long lines formed at gas stations and some social sectors threatened to mobilize against the withdrawal of the subsidy.

On Monday, the Executive presented a commission that will investigate the alleged corruption in the hydrocarbon area during the Morales and Arce governments, and also denounced an alleged economic damage of 2,595 million dollars due to “unviable” state companies and industrial plants promoted in both administrations.