The Minister of Economy of Bolivia, José Gabriel Espinoza, has highlighted this Saturday that the approval of the bill to modify the General State Budget (PGE) was achieved with the majority support of the Legislative Assembly, which means leaving behind nearly twenty years of political confrontations and blockades. In this context, he stressed that "institutions are strengthened when dialogue replaces imposition."
"Yesterday, not only was the Reformulated PGE 2026 approved. We also sent an important signal about how we want to make the country's economic decisions. After many years, fiscal policy was debated again in the Legislative Assembly. There were differences, arguments, and finally, consensus," the leader stated in a social media post.
The normative text was passed after certain adjustments were introduced and after more than five hours of technical exposition, followed by an extensive and intense exchange of criteria, achieving the support of more than two-thirds of the members of the Bolivian Congress. After its approval, the proposal was sent to the Senate for the legislative process to continue.
"Institutions are strengthened when dialogue replaces imposition and when the country's interest is above differences. Trust is also built this way," insisted the economic official, who emphasized that, for the first time in almost twenty years, a budget has been designed and approved based on explicit agreements between opposing political forces.
Espinoza specified that the modifications to the PGE will make it possible "to allocate more resources to municipalities and governorates," in addition to "directing the savings generated" by the cut in non-essential current spending "to the health, education, and security sectors."
The minister compared this procedure to that of previous governments, recalling that in the last five years "it was not even presented and was approved by decree," alluding to the lack of parliamentary debate on public accounts.
According to his assessment, the exchange of positions and the consensus reached in the Assembly represent a step forward in institutional matters, for which he expressed his recognition to the different political forces for contributing to the recovery of the country's institutional framework, which, he said, "should never have been lost."
"This is marking a fundamental milestone, not only in the change of the country's economic management, but also in the recovery of institutionalism," the minister added.
This advance occurs after Bolivia has gone through months of strong social tension, marked by an indefinite strike decreed by unions and by national road blockades, promoted by organizations close to former president Evo Morales, who demanded the resignation of the current president, Rodrigo Paz.
In the moments of greatest conflict, more than a hundred blockade points were counted in seven of the country's nine departments. After several failed attempts to establish conversations, when protests had been ongoing for 50 days, the Bolivian Workers' Central (COB) and the Executive finally reached an agreement.
A few hours after that understanding, Paz declared a state of exception to resort to the Armed Forces with the objective of dismantling the road blockades, which continued to be led by peasant organizations and allies of Morales. Three days after the declaration of emergency, the former president announced a "time-out" from the blockades, which allowed for a reduction in tension in the streets.