Bolivia seeks green finance from BTG Pactual to protect Amazon and Chiquitania ecosystems

Minister of Sustainable Production, Environment and Water Óscar Mario Justiniano held discussions with BTG Pactual representatives in New York to structure green financing mechanisms for priority environmental investments. The meeting took place at the bank’s financial headquarters, where Justiniano presented Bolivia’s new environmental agenda highlighting the conservation and restoration potential of the Amazon rainforest and the Chiquitania dry forest ecosystem. BTG Pactual operates as the region’s dominant investment banking platform with experience structuring environmental finance across Latin American markets.

The approach to BTG Pactual coincides with Bolivia’s parallel engagement with multilateral institutions. The country concluded legislative approval for an IMF program worth approximately 1,900 million dollars, with Economy Minister Christian Morales confirming the first disbursement of 250 million dollars is scheduled within two weeks. The IMF facility forms part of a broader financing package exceeding 5,000 million dollars when combined with commitments from the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean.

President Rodrigo Paz announced negotiations for an additional 10,000 million dollars in financing from four multilateral organizations during meetings held alongside the United Nations General Assembly in New York. IDB President Ilan Goldfajn confirmed Bolivia as the sole candidate to host the bank’s 2028 annual meetings, a designation that has never occurred in the country’s history. The World Bank separately ratified technical and financial support through the “Raíces” project focused on environmental governance and sustainable value chains during a bilateral meeting with Minister Justiniano.

Bolivia presented advances on draft climate finance framework legislation currently under review in the Legislative Assembly and proposed forestry sector reforms during the World Bank discussions. Valerie Hickey, the bank’s global director for environment and natural resources, acknowledged Bolivia’s extensive forest coverage and emphasized the need to compensate conservation efforts. The agenda addressed linking forest preservation with productive value chains capable of generating employment and income for indigenous and local communities while meeting international demand for sustainable products.

The financing initiatives develop against Bolivia’s macroeconomic adjustment program including diesel subsidy elimination, partial gasoline subsidy removal, and exchange rate flexibilization under a free market framework. The country experienced 53 days of road blockades between May and June, with estimated losses exceeding 3,000 million dollars according to the Bolivian Foreign Trade Institute.