The Government’s Missteps and the Dollar Shortage: Effects on the Financial Market

The unwise measures of the Government and an arbitrary management of international reserves, according to economists, caused the shortage of the dollar and derived a parallel price, higher than the official one, and credit cards raised the amount and financial institutions increased the commission for currency transfer.

On social networks, they denounced that some financial entities increased the price of the dollar to more than seven bolivianos, however, the sources consulted indicated that the bank did not do so but credit cards.

A few days ago, the economist and former director of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), Gabriel Espinoza, said that the commission for withdrawing dollars from ATMs abroad was increased, and banks must reconcile with their peers for payments.

He anticipated that the reconciliation of accounts will be complicated by the scarcity of currency in the market, and because the purchase is made at a value, in some cases, higher than the official value set by the authorities.

Another of the effects of the government’s policy of setting a value of 6.95 bolivianos per dollar to the foreign currency that comes from exporters. This situation was described by economists as a hidden devaluation and that had its impact on the market, since parallel markets were created.

Meanwhile, the complaints apparently did not reach the Financial System Supervision Authority (ASFI), since they were consulted and to date there has been no response from the regulatory entity.