Overview

• The traditional marraqueta has shrunk from about 100 grams to roughly 60 grams while retaining its 50-centavo price.
• Government-subsidized flour deliveries have become irregular due to dollar scarcity and higher import costs, forcing bakeries to ration dough and prompting long queues.
• Falling gas export revenues and tight foreign reserves have drained the fiscal fund that once financed bread, oil and fuel subsidies.
• Frontrunners Samuel Doria Medina and Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga say they will eliminate or reduce subsidies if they win the August 17 election.
• The IMF reports that Bolivia’s food and fuel subsidies represented more than 4.2% of GDP last year, intensifying calls for reform.