election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of
vote—Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan
Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA
(CONDEPA) 17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote;
Hugo BANZER Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August
1997 after forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR and
PDC
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso
Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27
seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130
seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms)
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies—last held 1
June 1997 (next to be held June 2002)
election results: Chamber of Senators—percent of vote by party—NA;
seats by party—ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of
Deputies—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—ADN 32, MNR 26,
MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema), judges appointed
for a 10-year term by National Congress
Political parties and leaders:
Center-Left Parties: Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR
SANCHEZ DE LOZADA]
FERNANDEZ, Hugo VILLEGAS]
Indigenous Parties: Tupac Katari Revolutionary Liberation Movement
International organization participation: CAN, ECLAC, FAO, G-11,
G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES,
LAIA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO,
UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Marcelo PEREZ Monasterios
chancery: 3014 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Donna Jean HRINAK
embassy: Avenida Arce 2780, San Jorge, La Paz
mailing address: P. O. Box 425, La Paz; APO AA 34032
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of red (top),
yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band;
similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed
star centered in the yellow band
Economy
Economy—overview: With its long history of semifeudal social controls, dependence on mineral exports, and bouts of hyperinflation, Bolivia has remained one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries. However, Bolivia has experienced generally improving economic conditions since the PAZ Estenssoro administration (1985–89) introduced market-oriented policies which reduced inflation from 11,700% in 1985 to about 20% in 1988. PAZ Estenssoro was followed as president by Jaime PAZ Zamora (1989–93) who continued the free-market policies of his predecessor, despite opposition from his own party and from Bolivia's once powerful labor movement. President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA (1993–1997) vowed to advance the market-oriented economic reforms he helped launch as PAZ Estenssoro's planning minister. His successes included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. Hugo BANZER Suarez has tried to further improve the country's investment climate with an anticorruption campaign. With the scheduled completion of a $2 billion natural gas pipeline to Brazil in 1999, Bolivia hopes to become an energy hub in the region.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$23.4 billion (1998 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 4.7% (1998 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity?$3,000 (1998 est.)
GDP—composition by sector: agriculture: 17% industry: 26% services: 57% (1995 est.)
Population below poverty line: 66%
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.3% highest 10%: 31.7% (1990)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.4% (1998 est.)
Labor force: 2.5 million
Labor force—by occupation: agriculture NA%, services and utilities NA%, manufacturing, mining and construction NA%
Unemployment rate: 11.4% (1997) with widespread underemployment
Budget:
revenues: $2.7 billion
expenditures: $2.7 billion (1998)
Industries: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages,
tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
Industrial production growth rate: 4% (1995 est.)
Electricity—production: 2.95 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—production by source: fossil fuel: 40.68% hydro: 59.32% nuclear: 0% other: 0% (1996)
Electricity—consumption: 2.948 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—exports: 2 million kWh (1996)
Electricity—imports: 0 kWh (1996)
Agriculture—products: soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
Exports: $1.1 billion (f.o.b., 1998 est.)
Exports—commodities: metals 34%, natural gas 9.4%, soybeans 8.4%,
jewelry 11%, wood 6.9%
Exports—partners: US 22%, UK 9.3%, Colombia 8.7%, Peru 7.4%,
Argentina 7.2%
Imports: $1.7 billion (c.i.f. 1998)
Imports—commodities: capital goods 48%, chemicals 11%, petroleum 5%, food 5% (1993 est.)
Imports—partners: US 20%, Japan 13%, Brazil 12, Chile 7.5% (1996)
Debt—external: $4.1 billion (1998)
Economic aid—recipient: $588 million (1997)
Currency: 1 boliviano ($B) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: bolivianos ($B) per US$1—5.6491 (January 1999), 5.5101 (1998), 5.2543 (1997), 5.0746 (1996), 4.8003 (1995), 4.6205 (1994)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones: 144,300 (1987 est.)
Telephone system: new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities domestic: microwave radio relay system being expanded international: satellite earth station—1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 177, FM 68, shortwave 112 (1998)
Radios: NA
Television broadcast stations: 48 (1997)
Televisions: