By Oscar Antezana, El Dia:

There are many, many ways to start solving the crisis that cost little or no money. What is needed is common sense and political courage.

Recently, Bolivia received $214 million from the IMF. It is a relief, but also a reminder: borrowed dollars buy time; dollars produced by a country build the future. We need to generate dollars, not debt. Bolivia has also just eliminated the diesel subsidy. According to the government, fuel subsidies cost around $55 million per week, or more than $2.6 billion per year. The measure will have costs, and vulnerable sectors will need protection. But it also raises another question: what do we do now with the fiscal space we are recovering? The answer should not simply be to spend differently. We must use this moment to produce differently.

In a previous article, I proposed tourism as one of the major answers. Bolivia already possesses much of what is needed: nature, culture, gastronomy, history, Uyuni, the Amazon, Lake Titicaca, colonial cities, and national parks. Tourism also has a particularly valuable characteristic during a crisis: it distributes money. A foreign visitor leaves dollars at the hotel, but also at the restaurant, taxi, artisan shop, tour guide, café, market, and family business. It is an extraordinarily inclusive activity. It can generate jobs for young people and women, professionals and low-skilled workers, large hotels and small entrepreneurs alike. And it can do so from La Paz to Rurrenabaque, from Sucre to Uyuni, and from Santa Cruz to the Jesuit Missions. It is a tremendous opportunity. Imagine what could be done if the government stopped financing losses at state-owned companies, which collectively owe approximately $3.1 billion to the Central Bank of Bolivia.

There is another opportunity literally swimming in front of us. Ecuador offers an extraordinary story. A few decades ago, its shrimp industry was relatively small-scale. Today it is a global powerhouse. In ten years, exports quadrupled. In 2020, Ecuador surpassed India as the world’s largest shrimp exporter, and last year it sold more than $8 billion worth of shrimp abroad. The industry accounts for roughly 6% of Ecuador’s GDP. Yet it nearly disappeared. The devastating “white spot” disease once killed up to 95% of shrimp in infected ponds. Production fell by 70% in just two years. Ecuador responded with science and technology: developing disease-resistant shrimp, improving feed, and incorporating aerators, filtration systems, and even underwater microphones that “listen” to feeding activity. Today, about 95% of shrimp survive until harvest.

Bolivia cannot copy shrimp. It can copy the strategy.

We have tambaqui and pacú in the tropics, trout in the Altiplano, and paiche in the Amazon. Nor are we starting from zero. Between 2016 and 2021, for example, fish farming production in the Chapare region increased by 181%. Imagine the value chain: one person produces fingerlings; another manufactures feed; a family raises fish; a company installs aerators; another collects the harvest; a processing plant prepares the product; refrigerated trucks transport it; supermarkets sell it. Then come frozen fillets and exports. That is development: turning a fish into a chain of jobs.

And here is the extraordinary part: to begin boosting tourism and aquaculture, the government hardly needs to spend more money. It does not need to build hotels or raise fish. It needs to remove obstacles. During the election campaign and since taking office, the government has acknowledged that Bolivia is a country burdened by bureaucracy and bottlenecks. What significant change has it delivered so far? None.

In tourism, the priorities are simple: streamline procedures, improve connectivity, attract operators, and promote Bolivia internationally. In aquaculture, the focus should be on bringing together producers, universities, processors, banks, and buyers; speeding up health certifications; researching lower-cost feed; and opening new markets.

Much can be done using institutions, embassies, and public officials that already exist and are already being paid. If they are not delivering results, they should be replaced. We do not need another five-year study. Bring together the people who know how to produce, invest, and sell. Ask them what is holding them back. Identify ten obstacles in each sector, assign responsibility, and eliminate them within ninety days. Then let private investment do the rest.

Eliminating the subsidy helps restore fiscal order. The IMF may help buy time. But neither of those measures creates a new economy on its own. Adjustment may stop the crisis. Only greater production can lead us out of it.

Tourism and aquaculture are two places to begin. Not in five years. Not in two. Now.