LatinNews Daily - 11 May 2023

* Bolivia’s President Luis Arce has floated the possibility of using yuan for Bolivia’s trade with China in response to severe shortages of US dollars in Bolivia. Arce highlighted how regional neighbours such as Argentina and Brazil are beginning to use yuan in their trade with China, saying that “this is going to be the tendency in the region… we’re not exempt as a country”. He added that “in my opinion we have to do it [switch to yuan], we can’t stay on the margins of what’s happening”. Arce insisted that the dollar shortages are “transitory” and claimed that it was a result of Bolivia not being paid for exported goods. The more widely accepted explanation for Bolivia’s dollar shortages is that the country has overspent on expensive fuel subsidies while its income has shrunk from diminishing natural gas exports, with dollar payments further eroded by inflation.