Bolivia's Ministry of Finance swore in Jorge Marcelo Velasco Tudela as the new chair of the board of Banco de Desarrollo Productivo (BDP). The appointment is framed as part of the government’s strategy to strengthen the development bank’s role in expanding productive finance and supporting the country’s productive transformation. Velasco set out priorities to deepen access to productive financing, promote innovation, and contribute to economic diversification. The BDP’s mandate includes providing financing, technical assistance and “productive intelligence”, primarily targeting sectors that drive the national economy. Velasco is an industrial engineer from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés with postgraduate studies in the United States and Europe and more than 40 years’ experience in the financial system, and he is currently a professor and researcher at UMSA.