Remittances to Bolivia

The Bolivian Foreign Commerce Institute (IBCE) has released its biweekly electronic bulletin Nº 63 – Bolivia, September 22, 2011. Remittances to Bolivia (overseas workers); Why did remittances were reduced?

Between 2006 and 2011 (as of July), remittances to Bolivia from other countries totaled $4,810 million dollars; there was a growth in remittances of 67%.

From 2008 to 2010 the flow of those remittances dropped by 16%, due to the international financial crisis that affected mostly employment in developing countries. Most of the remittances come from Spain and the USA.

Unemployment in Spain: According to a survey made by the Spanish National Statistics Institute, in 2007, there were around 139,738 Bolivians (64,554 men and 75,184 women.)

The economic crisis of 2009, hit hard Spain, unemployment rose from 1.8 million people in 2007 to 4.6 million during 2010, which is 10% of the population (46 million).

Unemployment in USA: According to the US Bureau of Labor, during 2009 there was an annual average of 9.2 million people who lost their jobs. During 2010, that figure rose by 100,000 people more.

By June 2011, the number of people who lost their employment in the USA was 8.3 million.

Latin American population in the USA registered 2.8 million unemployed in 2010. As of June 2011, those unemployed totaled 2.7 million.

As of July 2011, 42.5% of the remittances went to Santa Cruz Department, followed by Cochabamba with 29.6%, La Paz 15% and rest of the country 12.9%.

www.ibce.org.bo

Some analysts say the economic crisis in Bolivia: lack of employment creation/generation, subsidies, and/or inflation effects could have been much worse if there were no remittances coming to country and/or money laundering from narcotrafficking activities; which represent an important flow of cash for the Bolivian informal economy. Another major problem for Bolivian society is in the family composition and upbringing of children. Many children are growing up with one or both parents missing from day-to-day life; gangs are spreading all over main cities as a result of children and teens being unattended.