Leaders | On the brink

Bolivia’s crisis shows the limits of left-wing populism

The country is running out of money. It should serve as a warning to Latin America

Residents wait in line outside of the Bolivian Central Bank in La Paz, Bolivia, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Bolivia's central bank started to schedule dollar sales for the next few weeks as it tries to contain greenback demand amid dwindling international reserves. Photographer: Marcelo Perez del Carpio/Bloomberg via Getty Images — Image: Getty Images

Apr 20th 2023

For several weeks extraordinary scenes have been taking place in Bolivia. As we report, last month the central bank started selling dollars directly to the public after it appeared that exchange houses had run out of greenbacks. The queues to buy them stretched along the streets of La Paz, the capital. The central bank has stopped publishing data on its foreign-currency reserves, suggesting that it has perilously little hard cash left. The price of government bonds has collapsed as investors flee: a bond due in 2028 is now trading at just 48 cents on the dollar.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “On the brink”