Bolivia advances 2023 budget bill despite internal tensions

Bolivia’s 2023 budget bill was approved in principle by the lower house following negotiations within the ruling MAS party, which has split between supporters of former president Evo Morales and current president Luis Arce.

Morales’ supporters joined the opposition last week to reject the bill, citing doubts over the financing of certain projects, but ultimately backed the proposal on Thursday, state-owned news agency ABI reported.

Prior to the vote, economy and finance minister Marcelo Montenegro was quoted as saying that he held meetings with the MAS legislators who had voted against the bill to get their backing, daily La Razón reported. 

He also said that the proposed budget will not be modified. 

The bill now needs to be voted on in detail before passing to the senate. 

The Morales and Arce factions had previously clashed over issues such as corruption allegations and economic policies. 

INFRASTRUCTURE

The bill assigned 13.4bn bolivianos (US$1.9bn) for infrastructure works, which include the following investments, according to documents from the economy and finance ministry:

Roads (5.8bn bolivianos)

Construction of 478km of routes
Conservation of 12,804km
Rehabilitation of 93km
 Six pre-investment studies

Air transport (3.1bn bolivianos)
 
Implementing five new air routes
Modernizing plane fleet
 Increasing total airport capacity to 2.4mn passengers per year.

Social housing (1.7bn bolivianos)

Over 20,000 housing units

Transport and telecommunications (1.3bn bolivianos)

Cochabamba metropolitan light rail
Montero-Bulo Bulo rail line
 Investment projects at telecom social inclusion agency PRONTIS

Internet coverage (243mn bolivianos)

Reach 100% coverage in communities with 50 or fewer residents.