POLITICS-BOLIVIA: It’s All about the Gas Revenues

By Franz Chávez LA PAZ, Jul 24 (IPS) - Revenues from Bolivia’s sales of natural gas, which have ballooned in the last few years, are now at the centre of the tense political polarisation threatening to tear the country apart and are a main motivation in the opposition’s attempt to undermine the leftwing government of Evo Morales. Gas revenues soared from 188 million dollars in late 2001 to 1.57 billion dollars in 2007, after the Morales administration forced foreign oil companies to renegotiate the terms of their contracts, thus increasing the royalties and taxes paid by the companies. The revenues now represent one-seventh of Bolivia’s gross domestic product (GDP) of 11 billion dollars, and have become the main source of income for the governments of the country’s nine provinces. In 2007, the government distributed 737... [read full story]