A fossil gas boom that lifted millions out of poverty has collapsed and inflation is rising – but not everyone believes selling gold and soya is the answer
Once hailed as the “energy heart of South America”, Bolivia’s economy was buoyed up by a fossil gas boom from 2006 to 2014. At its height, then-president Evo Morales commissioned a gleaming presidential skyscraper and installed the world’s longest urban cable car network in La Paz, the seat of government.
Flush with cash, the country grew its GDP, expanded social programmes and halved poverty rates. But then commodity prices plummeted and gas reserves started to dry up, bringing Bolivia’s “economic miracle” crashing down. Inflation – once the region’s lowest – has soared.
