Vice-minister of the treasury presented sovereign bond strategy for managing Bolivian debt and participated in an exchange with other countries.
La Paz, April 16, 2014– Bolivia and 12 other countries participated in the Fifth Forum on “Managing Debt in Developing Countries: New Frontiers and Ongoing Challenges,” organized recently by the World Bank in Brussels. The annual Forum offers an opportunity for policy-makers and debt managers from developing countries and international and regional technical assistance providers to discuss and exchange experiences, knowledge and solutions regarding debt management policies and problems countries face for obtaining financing.
Participants at the fifth forum included academics and high-level government officials from Africa (Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania), Asia (Turkey, Vietnam and Indonesia), Europe (Hungary, Bosnia Herzegovina and Sweden), Oceania (Australia) and South America (Chile, Brazil and Bolivia).
The Vice-Minister of the Treasury and Public Credit, Edwin Rojas, represented Bolivia at the event. He presented the results of the economic model applied in the country since 2006 and discussed Bolivia’s success with debt management. He also informed on the increase in debt capacity and diversification of government financing sources through the issuance of sovereign bonds and their impact on medium- and long-term external public debt. These bonds were issued in 2012 and 2013 on the international financial market for the first time in nearly 100 years.
Bolivia’s Ministry of the Economy and Public Finance reported that the medium- and long-term external public debt represented 17 percent of the country’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year, just 1 percent above the figure for 2012. In 2005, the debt reached 52 percent of GDP.
Rojas said that the funds obtained from the sovereign bonds issued in 2012 and 2013 are being used to develop the country’s road infrastructure.
The World Bank Resident Representative in Bolivia, Faris Hadad-Zervos, said: “We celebrate the presence of Bolivia at this Forum because it provided a good opportunity to share its achievements regarding management of the external public debt, as well as to exchange experiences on the sustainability of the debt and non-concessional loans, the domestic debt market, the debt management strategy and legal framework, as well as on sustainable financing, among the other issues discussed in the plenary sessions.”
The Forum is also targeted toward representatives of civil society organizations, as well as bilateral donors and multilateral development banks.
