Gas-Driven Growth Powers Morales Re-Election Bid in Bolivia
Gas-Driven Growth Powers Morales Re-Election Bid in Bolivia
COA’s Eric Farnsworth comments on Bolivia’s upcoming elections and why foreign companies are more interested in developing shale gas reserves in other more open economies.
Bolivian President Evo Morales is favored to win re-election this weekend after delivering eight years of uninterrupted growth following the nationalization of gas fields in 2006.
Morales was backed by 59 percent of those surveyed in an Ipsos poll between Sept. 8 and 23, more than double the combined tally of his four closest rivals, including Samuel Doria, who owns the country’s biggest cement producer. A candidate needs to win more than 40 percent and finish at least 10 percentage points ahead of the nearest rival to avoid a second-round vote.
Morales is already Bolivia’s longest serving head of state since 1839 and has more than doubled income per capita in South America’s poorest nation since he deployed troops with machine guns to seize foreign-owned gas fields. Production at those fields may begin to decline in 2017, threatening gas supply contracts with Brazil and Argentina that account for 57 percent of exports and 45 percent of fiscal revenue, said Alvaro Rios, a former Bolivian energy minister.....
Lost Allure
Foreign companies are more interested in developing shale gas reserves in countries such as the U.S. and Mexico with more open economies, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of Americas, a group representing U.S. businesses.
“There’s a huge competitiveness issue that’s going to take years for the Bolivians to get their arms around,” Farnsworth said by phone from Washington. “They should have been doing that for the last 10 years, instead of squandering the advantages and early movement that they had....”
