“This is a sewer of extraordinary dimensions” | “Esto es una cloaca de dimensiones extraordinarias”

By Lourdes Molina, El Deber:

President Paz’s harsh diagnosis

"Esto es una cloaca de dimensiones extraordinarias": el duro diagnóstico del presidente Paz

Rodrigo Paz, president of Bolivia | Photo: APG

On Thursday afternoon, Paz swore in the board of directors of the Central Bank of Bolivia. He spoke harshly about the economic situation left by the outgoing government.

President Rodrigo Paz described as a “sewer” the situation in which he found the various state portfolios. This comes less than a week after being sworn in as the country’s highest authority.

“I want to say, with personal pain, that this is a sewer of extraordinary dimensions; what they have left us does not even deserve to be called a blocked-up state. Wherever we have entered—ministries, institutions—there are people acting in good faith, but we have also found ourselves facing dimensions we did not expect, a sewer. It is hard to say it, and we must transform it, so that a new State may emerge, one that is at the service of the Homeland, which is the most important thing,” the president stated, during the swearing-in ceremony of the new board of directors of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB).

Along those same lines, the head of state stressed that “the BCB must cease to be the petty cash of the government in power; today, with faith in the men and women of this board, we place all our hope in the decision to stop being petty cash and begin to function as a bank for all Bolivians.”

Among the priority tasks for the new BCB board, Paz called for fiscal and monetary discipline, and—in what pertains to the BCB—transparency and accountability.

For Rodrigo Paz, the country is disordered, without direction. “As of October 19, we are giving it a destination with firmness, to aim toward goals that benefit everyone. I understand that you (the BCB board) have major challenges; do not forget the people, we want our little money to go further,” the president demanded.

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