On the subject of Bolivia...

Yesterday we featured Bolivian President Evo Morales' approval ratings on these humble pages and noted the slump he's suffering at present, so I'd like to pick up and run with this a tad further because it's worth pointing out that the Evo woes are more about specific social issues (Tipnis first amongst them) and much less about the state of Bolivia's economy, which is doing just fine thank you very much.

Don't believe me? Well, no need to take my word for it, let's see what The IMF western hemisphere sub-director, Gilbert Terriel, had to say on the subject yesterday:

"In contrast to the rest of the LatAm and Caribbean, which is seeing a slowdown in economic growth from 5% to 4.5% and in the worst cases in the industrialized nations that only get to 3% growth, during this government Bolivia is keeping to a 5% growth rate with a slowdown in inflation to 6.9%."

Backing up those words at the same meeting and presser, Bolivia's Minister of Economy and Public Finances, Luis Arce, said:

"The international finance crisis won't affect our banking system or financial entities. We have a strong finance system. Inflation has stopped being a problem and is now dropping, despite those who try to exacerbate it through the media."

Then while laying out government forecasts for 5.5% GDP growth and 4.5% inflation in 2012, he added:

"All signs are that Bolivia's economy is going to behave well, with less inflation and stronger growth."

So now you know. Evo may be subject of gripes, but it ain't about the economy, stupid.