Source:
Fundación Jubileo Bolivia
Mon Jan 04 2010
Last December 30, by a majority vote of deputies, the Lower House of the Bolivian Parliament approved a resolution to recommend the Pluri-National Legislative Assembly taking office on January 6 2010, the setting up of a special commission to audit Bolivia’s external debt. The decision is part of a process having the participation of members of parliament as well as of civil society organisations and institutions – the Jubilee Foundation among them – in association with national and international networks.
According to the communiqué of this legislative body, the commission must “investigate the process through which external public debt was entered into and renegotiated”, as well as the destination and implementation of programmes and projects funded with resources relieved in favour of the country.
It is also added that this audit shall determine the “legitimacy, lawfulness, transparency, quality, effectiveness and efficiency” of debt processes and debt cancellation processes registered in Bolivia in recent decades.
The outgoing members of parliament justified this recommendation by arguing that during the dictatorship periods in the country “external debt was entered into without people’s consent” and that indebtedness levels “continue to be alarming” in spite of debt cancellations.
Furthermore, they stated that economic and social development projects and programmes funded with external resources have failed “to reduce the high levels of poverty and inequality” in the country.
“In view of the current global financial and economic crisis we consider it appropriate to gather past experiences to make policy recommendations for a new responsible external indebtedness”, the resolution adds.
According to a report of the Central Bank of Bolivia, the country’s medium and long-term external public debt amounted to 2.8 billion dollars by September 2009 – exceeding the amount registered in December 2008 by 316 million.
The country’s debt with the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), which amounts to 987 million dollars, accounts for 35 per cent of the debt owed to multilateral institutions.
Meanwhile, the country’s main bilateral debt is owed to Venezuela and amounts to 247.7 million dollars.
Bolivian social organisations, among them the Jubilee Foundation, have suggested on several occasions to carry out an external debt audit in order to get to know the origin, conditions and impact of indebtedness.
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