‘We submitted a proposed draft bill that authorizes the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) to purchase domestically produced gold to strengthen the Net International Reserves (NIR) and authorizes it to carry out operations in international markets,’ the president tweeted.

Arce also called on the assembly to take into account the sustained increase in the price of gold during the last decade, and that forecasts indicate that its value will continue to rise.

He said that this initiative seeks to provide the BCB with the tools, procedures and legal framework to effectively manage the country’s reserves.

Data from the Central Bank show that Bolivia’s NIR ended 2020 with more than 5.275 billion dollars accumulated, a number that makes up 14 percent of Bolivia’s GDP.

This figure is lower than that at the end of 2019, when 6.467 billion dollars were reported for this concept, a difference of nearly 1.2 billion dollars.

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