Twenty years of single-party socialist rule in Bolivia has been upended by the election of pro-business centrist Rodrigo Paz Pereira as president in early October. Paz campaigned on a slogan of “Capitalism for All,” and has vowed to mend the ailing economy through new multinational loans and private sector investment.

Born in Spain and educated at American University in Washington, DC, Paz has already reached out to U.S. oil and gas companies and is negotiating the offer of his country’s massive lithium reserves to the private sector.

U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio said, “The United States stands ready to partner with Bolivia,” following the election. Deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau traveled to Bolivia in early November for the inauguration of Paz and for meetings with Bolivian officials to discuss “the new dawn of our bilateral relations including a generational opportunity to build trade and investment, people-to-people ties, and cooperation in regional security,” the State Department stated.

Landau was accompanied by Development Finance Corporation CEO Ben Black; John Jovanovic, president and chairman of the Export-Import Bank; and Jonathan Greenstein, counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Similarly, ahead of a visit to Bolivia, Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul said, “Bolivia is rich in raw materials, especially lithium, which is indispensable for our energy transition, for electric mobility and for many other sectors in Germany.”

International Paint and Coatings Manufacturers in Bolivia

One international coatings company, Sika, has invested in Bolivia for the long haul. The company opened a new manufacturing plant in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 2022, doubling its production capacity of mortar and concrete admixtures. The move was aimed at serving the growing Bolivian construction market driven by infrastructure and civil projects.

“This recent investment in Bolivia enables us to continue to grow our output volumes in the dynamic Bolivian construction market,” said Christoph Ganz, Sika regional manager Americas, at the time of the investment. The company predicted that the construction industry would expand by 4% through 2026.

Similarly, MC-Bauchemie inaugurated a new production facility in December 2024 in the Guapilo Industrial Centre, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The plant produces liquid products including acrylates, concrete admixtures, curing agents, waterproofing solutions, and release agents, according to a company statement. In its initial phase, the plant will have a production capacity of up to one million liters per month, serving both domestic and export markets.

MC-Bauchemie plans to expand the plant by 2026 to include the production of powder-based products including pre-dosed cementitious mortars. The company also has manufacturing facilities in Brazil, Chile and Peru. The Bolivia expansion was supported by Brazilian experts in plant design and specialized equipment procurement, the company notes.

Domestic Producers

Bolivia’s largest paint and coatings manufacturer by far is Monopol, which posts nearly $50 million in annual sales, according to Dun & Bradstreet. Monopol has more than 200 employees and branches in major Bolivian cities, including La Paz, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Sucre, Tarija, Yacuiba, Trinidad, Oruro and Potosi.

Apart from its own extensive line of products, Monopol also distributes a notable list of international brands, including Pintuco, Sikkens, Wanda, 3M, Norton, Quimica Italquim, Graco and International. In 2017, Monopol retained the London Consulting Group to help increase production and distribution efficiency.

The next largest domestically owned paint or coatings company is Algar, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, with annual sales of $19.5 million, D&B reports. Next is Industrias Duralit, in Andres Ibanez, Santa Cruz, with annual sales of $15.7 million, followed by Yuyra Inversiones Bolivia, in La Paz, with annual sales of $12 million, and by American Chemical Company, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, with annual sales of $7.25 million, the analyst lists. Several dozen more companies with sales under $5 million are also described.

Brazil is the largest source of imported paints and coatings, followed by China and Argentina. Serimax Bolivia is described as the largest importers of paint in the country, sourcing materials from the United States and other countries.

Economic Recovery in the Cards

The World Bank describes Bolivia as “a landlocked nation in South America, [that] borders Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. Classified as a lower-middle-income country, it has a population of 11.3 million. Renowned for its rich cultural heritage, Bolivia has one of the highest proportions of Indigenous peoples in Latin America, with 38 percent of its population self-identifying as Indigenous.”

Bolivia’s gross domestic product growth during 2025 is projected to be 1.1% on the GDP of about $56 billion, a figure tempered by annual inflation of about 25%, according to an October analysis by the Banco Central de Bolivia. Paz is widely expected to broker new lending agreements with the IMF, the World Bank and other multilaterals.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bolivia increased by over $167 million in the second quarter of 2025, according to Trading Economics.

Transportation Among Top Construction Aims

“Bolivia’s infrastructure projects focus on transport, energy, and urban development, including major projects like the Central Bioceanic Railway Corridor to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, road upgrades like the Incahuasi tunnel and Monteagudo-Ipati highway to improve trade, and energy initiatives such as the La Ventolera wind farm and the Ivirizu hydroelectric plant,” indicates a recent AI search. “Urban projects address water, sanitation, and housing needs in cities like Santa Cruz and La Paz,”  AI adds.

The most ambitious infrastructure project in the country is the bi-oceanic railway, which would span some 6,500 kilometers, beginning at the Port of Chancay on the Peruvian coast, crossing the Andes Mountains at an altitude of 4,818 meters, traversing the Amazon rainforest along the Peru-Brazil border, and connecting with Brazil’s east-west integrated railway FICO-FIOL in Porto Velho, prior to reaching the Atlantic coast at the port of Ilhéus. Both Brazil and Peru have been working to advance the project.

Housing a Key Government Aim

Among housing and social support infrastructure programs, the government supports affordable housing through social programs, subsidized loans, and public-private partnerships. Similarly, education projects are being funded by lenders like the World Bank, focused on building and remodeling schools to improve education quality and access.

The housing shortage in Bolivia is acute, and the Paz government is expected to make housing a top priority. “According to the [Bolivian] National Institute of Statistics data, the qualitative shortage is characterized by severe overcrowding, experienced by approximately 30% of the families,” observes Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity works with other NGOs and charities including the National Network of Human Settlements, the Popular Habitat Committee, the Coordinator of Canadian Civil Society Organizations in Bolivia, the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies in Bolivia, and the Habitat International Coalition, among others.

Among other NGOs active in the Bolivian housing market are Cinprobol and The Fuller Center for Housing Bolivia, which builds affordable housing for low-income families and those who lack access to private loans.

Attracting Private Investment in Bolivia

One mechanism for attracting new private investment into Bolivia is the public-private partnership (PPP) which has been utilized on the municipal level by several jurisdictions but not yet instituted on a national level.

“If the [new] administration really wishes to grow the country’s economic development, it will need to consider the region’s experiences with PPPs, and continue to build the legal basis, and transparency already begun in 2008 to make PPPs viable,” said legal analysts with Dentons, in La Paz, recently.

“With the right legal structure and encouragement, PPPs could play a transformative role in aligning public needs with private founding and innovation in Bolivia, laying the basis for long term prosperity,” Dentons reckons.