Bolivia plans to issue up to $500 million in global bonds in the first half of the year in the Andean country's first international debt sale in more than 90 years, Economy Minister Luis Arce said on Friday. Proceeds from the sale will go toward the $17 billion President Evo Morales wants to invest over the next five years in infrastructure and industrialisation projects.
The new bond would be Bolivia's first foray into international financial markets since about 1920, Arce said. "Today Bolivia has the great opportunity to receive the capital that is looking for a place to land...and (this way) speed the growth of the Bolivian economy," Arce said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Inter-American Development Bank gathering in Montevideo.