BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOARD RESOLUTION NO. 046/2024

SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT – APPROVE THE EXIT OF GOLD ACQUIRED IN THE DOMESTIC MARKET FROM THE NATIONAL CUSTOMS TERRITORY.

VIEWED:

The Political Constitution of the State (CPE) of February 7, 2009.
Law No. 1670, of October 31, 1995, of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) and its modifications.
Law No. 1503 of May 5, 2023, Law on the Purchase of Gold Intended for the Strengthening of International Reserves.
The Statute of the BCB, approved by Board Resolution (B.R.) No. 095/2022 dated October 6, 2022.
The Regulations of the International Reserves Committee approved by Board Resolution No. 017/2023 of January 25, 2023.
The Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves approved by Board Resolution No. 071/2023 of May 9, 2023 and its modifications.
The Regulations for the Purchase of Gold in the Domestic Market Intended for the Strengthening of International Reserves, approved by Board Resolution No. 096/2023 of July 3, 2023 and its modifications.
Board Resolution No. 23/2024 of February 20, 2024.
Ministerial Resolution No. 058 of March 8, 2024 issued by the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance (MEFP).
The Report from the International Operations Department BCB-GOI-SRES-DNI-INF-2024-27 dated April 15, 2024.

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The Report from the Legal Affairs Department BCB-GAL-SANO-DLBCI-INF-2024-130 of April 15, 2024.

CONSIDERING:

That Article 328 of the Political Constitution of the State establishes as one of the attributions of the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), in coordination with the economic policy determined by the Executive Branch, the administration of international reserves.
That Article 1 of Law No. 1670, modified by Article 64, section A3, numeral 1) of Law No. 1864 of June 15, 1998 on Popular Property and Credit, establishes that the BCB is a state institution, of public law, of an autarkic nature, of indefinite duration, with its own legal personality and assets and with legal domicile in the city of La Paz. It is the sole monetary and exchange authority of the country, with administrative, technical and financial competence and specialized regulatory powers of general application.
That Article 14 of Law No. 1670 establishes that the BCB will ensure the strengthening of International Reserves so as to allow the normal functioning of Bolivia's international payments.
That Article 15 of Law No. 1670 provides that the International Reserves of the BCB are constituted, among others, by physical gold.
That Article 44 of Law No. 1670 establishes that the highest authority of the BCB is its Board of Directors, which is responsible for defining its policies, specialized regulations of general application and internal rules; as well as establishing administrative, operational and financial strategies of the BCB, approving their respective short and medium-term programs. For the monitoring and oversight of their execution, it will have access to independent information, analysis and audit services.
That subsections a) and c) of Article 54 of Law No. 1670 indicate as attributions of the Board of Directors the following: Issue the regulations and adopt the general decisions that may be necessary for the BCB to fulfill the functions, competencies and powers assigned to it by Law; Carry out the monitoring of the execution of monetary, exchange,

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exchange, credit, financial intermediation, administration of international reserves and other policies corresponding to the BCB in accordance with Law No. 1670.

That Article 1 of Law No. 1503 has as its object to authorize the BCB to purchase gold from the domestic market for the strengthening of International Reserves and to carry out financial operations with International Reserves in gold in international markets.
That paragraph II of Article 7 of Law No. 1503 provides that the exit from the national customs territory of the gold of the Central Bank of Bolivia for its refining abroad shall be approved by the Board of Directors of the BCB, in accordance with its regulations.
That Article 9 of Law No. 1503 establishes that the BCB will carry out operations in international markets with gold reserves, being able to buy, invest, deposit in custody, use in hedging instruments, transform and convert them into foreign currency, in order to optimize the liquidity and/or yield of International Reserves.
That Article 185 of Supreme Decree No. 25870 of August 11, 2000, of the Regulations to the General Customs Law and its modifications establishes that the exit from the national customs territory of international reserves, composed of convertible currencies and gold, by virtue of operations carried out by the BCB with international financial organizations and other institutions abroad, derived from its central banking functions or that are carried out to facilitate payment and credit operations, must be carried out in accordance with applicable legal provisions and prior presentation of the Resolution of the Ministry current Ministry of Economy and Public Finance that authorizes such operation.
That subsections 1) and 3) of Article 5 of the Statute of the BCB provide that its Board of Directors has regulatory competence to issue specialized regulations in the fields assigned by Law and technical competence for the formulation of policies and the application of instruments that allow it to fulfill its object.
That subsections 1) and 6) of Article 10 of the Statute of the BCB provide that the Board of Directors has the attributions to approve general decisions and issue the regulations that may be necessary for the BCB to fulfill the functions, competencies and powers assigned to it by

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the Law, approve the policy and regulations for the administration of International Reserves, as well as carry out the monitoring of their execution.

That paragraph I of Article 24 of said norm provides that the resolutions and decisions of the Board of Directors are adopted by a simple majority of votes of its members present in a meeting, except in cases where Law No. 1670 or the Statute of the BCB require qualified majorities.
That Article 26 of the Statute of the BCB stipulate that the Board of Directors pronounces itself on matters within its competence through Resolutions. It may also do so through decisions that will be expressly recorded in the Minutes. Likewise, any draft Board Resolution must be motivated and justified by a technical report from the Department or Departments to which the subject matter of the Resolution corresponds and by a report from the Legal Affairs Department. These reports must be sent to the Board of Directors by the General Management with its recommendation.
That subsection 5) of Article 6 of the Regulations of the International Reserves Committee establishes among others as a Function of the Committee to propose the treatment that will be applied to International Reserve investments in case of immediate liquidity requirement, to recommend to the BCB.
That Paragraph VI of Article 11 of the Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves establishes that the exit from the national customs territory of gold purchased locally, to carry out investment operations, will be approved by Board Resolution.
That Article 25 of the Regulations for the Purchase of Gold in the Domestic Market Intended for the Strengthening of International Reserves provides that the exit of gold from the national customs territory for the purpose of refining abroad will be approved by Board Resolution.
That Board Resolution No. 23/2024 of February 20, 2024, approves the exit from the national customs territory of 556 gold bars acquired in the domestic market with an approximate weight of 4.91 tons, of which it is estimated that 4.66 tons of fine gold with

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destination to Italy, to carry out investment operations, in accordance with what is established in the Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves.

That the First Resolve of Ministerial Resolution No. 058 of March 8, 2024 issued by the MEFP, authorizes the Central Bank of Bolivia the exit from the national customs territory of 556 gold bars destined to Italy for its investment, in accordance with the conditions established by the Central Bank of Bolivia in Board Resolution B.R. No. 023/2024, of February 20, 2024.
That the Report from the International Operations Department BCB-GOI-SRES-DNI-INF-2024-27 recommends to the Board of Directors of the BCB to approve the exit from the national customs territory of 428 gold bars acquired in the domestic market, described in the annex of said report, with an approximate weight of 3.93 tons, of which it is estimated 3.73 tons of fine gold with destination to Turkey for the purpose of refining abroad, authorize the investment operations of the refined gold in accordance with what is established in the Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves and render ineffective B.R. No. 23/2024 of February 20, 2024.
That the Report from the Legal Affairs Department BCB-GAL-SANO-DLBCI-INF-2024-130, concludes that the approval of the exit from the national customs territory of the gold acquired in the domestic market for its refining and the carrying out of investment operations does not violate the current regulations, therefore it recommends to the Board of Directors of the BCB its approval of the exit of 428 gold bars acquired in the domestic market, described in the annex of said report, with an approximate weight of 3.93 tons, of which it is estimated 3.73 tons of fine gold with destination to Turkey for the purpose of refining abroad, authorize the investment operations of the refined gold in accordance with what is established in the Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves and render ineffective B.R. No. 23/2024 of February 20, 2024.

THEREFORE,

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF BOLIVIA

RESOLVES:

Article 1.- Approve the exit from the national customs territory of 428 gold bars acquired in the domestic market with an approximate weight, according to report

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BCB-GOI-SRES-DNI-INF-2024-27, of 3.93 tons, of which it is estimated approximately 3.73 tons of fine gold, with destination to Turkey for the purpose of refining abroad.

Article 2.- Authorize the investment operations of the gold resulting from the refining indicated in the preceding article, in accordance with what is established in the Regulations for the Administration of International Reserves.

Article 3.- Render ineffective Board Resolution No. 23/2024 of February 20, 2024.

Article 4.- In accordance with Article 26 of the Regulations for the Purchase of Gold in the Domestic Market Intended for the Strengthening of International Reserves, the International Operations Department will process the Ministerial Resolution that authorizes the exit of gold from the national customs territory before the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, as well as the Ministerial Resolution that renders ineffective the First Resolve of Ministerial Resolution No. 058 dated March 8, 2024.

Article 5.- The Presidency and the General Management are in charge of compliance with this Resolution.

La Paz, April 16, 2024

SIGNED. OSCAR FERRUFINO MORRO, Gabriel Herbas Camacho, Gumercindo Héctor Pino Guzman, Diego Alejandro Pérez Cueto Eulert.

Board Resolution No. 046/2024