Bolivia: Politics and the Loss of Foreign Investment

Chinese oil firm Shengli International's decision to close down operations in Bolivia before they even started bodes ill for Bolivia. It is the first foreign firm to give up on the country's considerable natural resources and take a significant amount of foreign direct investment — $1.5 billion — with it. With Bolivia's tempestuous social climate and the current lack of an adequate regulatory framework, Shengli's departure indicates that foreign investment in Bolivia may be grinding to a halt. Though the floodgates are not about to open, this development further deteriorates the country's tenuous situation.