Bolivia's Ministry of Economy and Public Finance announced the creation of three new productive credit vehicles, the Export Support Credit Fund (Focax), the Sugarcane Sector Financing Fund (Focaña) and the Startup Fund, to support national production, exports and innovative ventures. The addition brings the total number of government-established funds to 11, comprising six credit funds, four guarantee funds and one venture capital fund. Each new fund will be capitalised with USD 6.03 million, financed from the portion of Multiple Banks’ and SME Banks’ 2024 net profits that must be allocated to their “social function” under Law No. 393 and Supreme Decree No. 5306. The Ministry reported that banks generated USD 380.22 million in annual profits in 2024, implying a USD 22.81 million contribution at 6%, of which USD 1.45 million was allocated to strengthen the Guild Sector Guarantee Fund (Fogagre) and USD 18.1 million to the three new funds. Focax will finance working capital and investment for microproducers and SME exporters at interest rates of 10% for microenterprises and 6% for SMEs, with terms of 36 months for working capital and up to 120 months for investment, and will be administered by Banco Unión S.A. Focaña will provide similar working capital and investment financing to micro and SME sugarcane producers at the same rates and comparable terms, administered by the Productive Development Bank – Mixed Company (BDP S.A.M.), with eligibility including the requirement that the credit is not used to repurchase existing debts. The Startup Fund, also administered by BDP S.A.M., will provide venture capital through accelerators, with each accelerator able to manage up to USD 900,000. Supervision and compliance will be overseen by the Financial System Supervision Authority (ASFI), and the Ministry will sign the corresponding management contracts with the financial institutions.

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