Following is a letter sent to the Editor of the Financial Times:
Dear Sir/Madam,
The expressions of apparent surprise by international companies in response to new Bolivian President Evo Morales' announcement of the planned nationalization of gas assets is a bit strange given that all they had to do is look at his campaign promises to see what he was planning ("Local politics in Bolivia has global effects" Financial Times May6/7, 2006).
Multinationals shouldn't be too hard on him. Evo Morales did not have to go any further than Europe to learn all about strategic sectors, national champions and protection of local companies.
In recent times, companies in sectors such as oil and gas, electricity, telecommunications, even yoghurt and mineral water (Danone) have been designated under these protectionist banners by their governments. These companies have benefited from various protections from governments such as Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and even supposedly free-market Britain.
When President Morales has finished with gas, he can move on to telecommunications, which is run by Telecom Italia, indeed, as this company has apparently have been trying to unload its stake, they may be quite happy to be bought out by the government. Then the electricity companies can follow, all of which are under foreign control.
European government’s hypocritical complaints sound hollow given their own recent performance.
Onésimo Alvarez-Moro
See article:
Since Evo Morales took power in Bolivia at the end of January, his government has often seemed like an administration in search of an economic policy.
The approach has appeared ad hoc and contradictory. Wages of politicians and civil servants were cut, while teachers and healthcare workers were given modest rises. The government allowed hundreds of jobs to be lost by expelling EBX, a Brazilian steelmaker, for breaking environmental rules, while announcing short-term job-creation. Statements have been made by junior ministers and withdrawn by senior colleagues.
"Everything the government does is driven by political ideology," says a western diplomat in La Paz. "The instinct of nationalism has trumped any economic plan."
See full Article.
Posts
