>>>A few days ago, fuel prices (gasolene, diesel) were raised about 50 to 80 percent, to bring them closer to international prices. After a lot of protests, the government has reverted this decision tonight.
>>>
>>>The decision seemed economically sound; prices were (and now are, again) subsidied. It seems the government imports part of the fuel from neighboring countries to sell them at lower prices... and part of those are then smuggled back to neighboring countries.
>>>
>>>I wonder how this is going to continue.
>>>
>>>A friend - borin in Iran, but lost his Iranian citizenship because he is a Bahá'í - said that in Iran, they just raised fuel prices a few weeks ago, by a factor of nine! I must have overlooked that in the news. It seems prices there were subsidied, too - but there is a fairly tight quota to how much gasolene an individual can buy in a month.
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>>They are jumping like crazy here and predicted to go as high as 5.00/gallon and yet no screams for some reason.... right now around $3/gallon
>
>I'll try to convert that to a common standard... $3 a gallon would be about $0.80/liter.
>
>Prices for gasolene in Bolivia were to be similar to that, but now they are back to Bs. 3.77/liter, which is about $0.55/liter. You can imagine there is some potential for smugglers there, especially if they live near the border to a neighboring country, with prices closer to the international price level.
>
>Mind you, Bs. 3.77 per liter hurts a Bolivian more than it hurts you to pay for gasolene in the U.S., given that salaries tend to be about 10-20 times lower. But the fact remains that - from what I heard - the government is losing hundreds of millions of US$ a year for subsidizing the gasolene - and part of that is specifically lost to smuggling.
>
>In Bolivia, however, we also have the option of changing cars to gas, which is about 1/3 the price (per kilometer) than gasolene. Even with the subsidized gasolene prices, the investment to make the car capable of running on gas, of about US$ 400-600, is recovered in about a year, with fuel savings.

Isn't the cost of living generally lower in bolivia for most things though so the salary discrepancy balances out?

Is this accurate?
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Bolivia&country2=United+States

Consumer Prices in United States are 138.24% higher than in Bolivia
Consumer Prices Including Rent in United States are 146.74% higher than in Bolivia
Rent Prices in United States are 165.35% higher than in Bolivia
Restaurant Prices in United States are 120.86% higher than in Bolivia
Groceries Prices in United States are 150.78% higher than in Bolivia
Local Purchasing Power in United States is 110.47% higher than in Bolivia

It's why Bolivia is considered an economically sound place to retire (the U.S. dollar goes further for retirees)....