The Bolivian Foreign Commerce Institute (IBCE) has released its biweekly electronic bulletin Nº 71 – Bolivia, October 20, 2011. Inflation figures follows:

Data is for 2011, January – September; percentage variation: monthly, cumulative and last 12 months. Source Bolivian Central Bank; chart made by IBCE; (p) preliminary data.

This cartoon is from El Diario (Oct 17, 2011). Shows the consumer goods basket going up very fast (elevator sign), pushed by speculators. While the currency is basically stagnant (stairs).

Consumer behavior in Bolivia, as in other countries, reflects “sticky prices” to most of the goods of the consumer basket. That is, if prices go up, for whatever reason, they usually do not go down. FAO experts say food prices will continue to go up for the next ten years.

Bolivian government dilemma is whether to continue with export quotas or let the market decide what and how much to produce.