El Dia reports about how some public policies cause more damage than the help/support they were designed for:

The furniture industry has been affected in their exports due to the decrease of the availability of raw material, this in direct relationship with the implementation of the Digital Forest Certificates (Cefos), which creates a tight control on the illegal exploitation of timber. Export went down 20% in September 2011.

The general manager of furniture Hurtado, Nicolas Hurtado, said that they did not even reach the 50% that was exported in relation to previous years, mainly by the scarcity of wood.

The species that we seek is the tajibo, first the price climbed and secondly it is hard to get. “We typically buy from established providers and they have had problems with their papers, apparently the ABT has tight them so much that they have not been able to process their wood. “Just to give you an example, I asked three trucks in July and they just delivered in November,” said Hurtado

Likewise, he mentioned that a foot of wood increased in these last three years, from one to two dollars. “We are talking about a 100% jump in the past three years, as well as labor, but this last time what is affecting us are the wood shortages,” said Nicolas Hurtado.

Digital Certified Forest. The general manager of the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE), Gary Rodríguez, said that after a long time in the history of the forestry sector, specifically the lumber, this has had a poor performance due to the implementation of the Digital Forest Certificate (Cefo).

http://eldia.com.bo/index.php?c=Portada&articulo=Desciende-la-exportacion-de-muebles&cat=1&pla=3&id_articulo=82324

What to do in these type of cases? The evidence is there, the problem identified, thus the ABT needs to amend its process and make the Cefo an instrument to help expedite and control wood production, nothing more. In lieu of the above, the question arises as to why did current government had to eliminate the Forestry Superintendence if it was working? Why do populist governments prefer to work with low or nonexistent meritocracy? The government could have any political inclination, but what no one should ever change is the civil service of highly dedicated and trained professionals.

If demagogue tells eventual rulers to give jobs to their “bases” then it is the origin of their poor performance, Not so long ago, in Bolivia parents would tell their children to study hard to become a professional. These days, the youth sees how much money a narcotrafficker has and on the other hand sees people with little or no studies (basic) at high level government posts, that they question the purpose of studying and of working hard. Unfortunately, those are the role models of current Bolivian State…