Bolivia spends $ 632 million on importing food, from $ 300 million it was 10 years ago. In general he pays $ 84 out of every 72 he receives. The "normality" of the trade deficit of 1,200 MM / $ us resembles the last neoliberal governments. (Photo ABI- A plague of locusts devouring from 2 weeks plantations "young, green and succulent" corn and sorghum in Cabezas, in the southwest of the country chaqueño. Approaching the city of Santa Cruz. The government announced on Monday , 6 Which will allocate $ 700,000 to attack it)

The total importation of food and beverages in 2016, amounted to 632 million dollars, according to the analysis of the Jubilee Foundation of the Catholic Church in Bolivia, in a sample of the growing expenditures to which the country is subjected, Falling incomes, government waste and lack of industrialization.
The report added criticism of the "normality" of the $ 1.2 billion trade deficit, announced by the Ministry of Economy, which, as if no more than a decade had passed, resembles the last period of neoliberal governments according to another institution Of economic analysis, the Center for Studies on Labor and Agrarian Development (CEDLA)
"For all these reasons, one can not, as the Minister of Economy and Public Finance does, self-deceive, arguing that the huge increase in the trade deficit in the last two years is" normal ", said the Center for Studies.
"In any case, we could say that it was a frequent phenomenon during the last years of the neoliberal period, which, as now, reflected the huge national dependence on processed goods imports due to the country's poor industrialization," he added.
Total imports in the past went above US $ 8.4 billion, leaving a trade deficit of US $ 1.2 billion compared to US $ 7.2 billion in export earnings, so that the country is paying an additional US $ 12 per enter, and receives only 72, according to the following provisional figures from the National Institute of Statistics [ http://www.ine.gob.bo/pdf/Resumenes/RES_2017_5.pdf ]

5,327 MILLION DOLLARS IN FOOD SINCE 2006
This economic activity has been increasing considerably since 2007, recalls Jubilee. Until that year, the value of imports of food and beverages had not exceeded 300 million dollars.
Between 2006 and 2016, food imports increased by 155%. Over the past 10 years, the cumulative value of imports of food and beverages reached $ 5,327 million
Self-defeating
According to CEDLA, the government clings to its own interpretation of the strength of the Bolivian economy and the sustainability of its growth, arguing that the "engine" of GDP is no longer exports (external demand), but consumption and Investment (domestic demand), which would have improved their dynamism thanks to the government's "redistributive" policies.
"Conversely, he says, net exports (exports minus imports) are no longer determinants of GDP. Therefore - contrary to the international crisis that translates into the fall in international prices of raw materials that we export - we would not have to worry about the consumption of households and the government will continue to pull the growth of the economy.

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