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Good practice Imported

Lab-IA — Bolivia's Ministry of Economy AI Laboratory for Macroeconomic Nowcasting

Bolivia · La Paz · See the Bolivia profile · See the La Paz profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 66% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Bolivia's Ministry of Economy, backed by a US$100,000 IDB grant, built 'Lab-IA' for machine-learning nowcasting; a published study narrowed the country's GDP-reporting lag from six months to two using satellite data and ML, though policy use is unconfirmed.

100,000 USD
IDB technical-cooperation grant (approved Jul 2024)
~6 months
GDP data-release lag before ML/satellite approach
~2 months
GDP data-release lag after ML/satellite approach
18 of 19 economies
Bolivia's rank on CEPAL 2025 Latin American AI Adoption Index (ILIA) (2025)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas Públicas (MEFP), Plurinational State of Bolivia, with the Inter-American Development Bank
Period
IDB technical-cooperation project approved 24 July 2024; ongoing research and capacity-building phase, 2024-2026
Keywords
machine learning, GDP nowcasting, macroeconomic forecasting, public finance, satellite data analytics

Context

In July 2024 the Inter-American Development Bank approved a US$100,000 technical-cooperation grant (BO-T1444) to help Bolivia's Ministry of Economy and Public Finance (MEFP) launch "Lab-IA", an AI laboratory intended to build machine-learning capacity for macroeconomic analysis and fiscal policy.

Objectives

Lab-IA's stated objective is "the generation of knowledge and intelligent fiscal policies" through machine-learning research conducted by the ministry, published via the joint MEFP-IDB research outlet Cuadernos de Investigación Económica Boliviana (CIEB).

Activities

Researchers combined machine-learning models with satellite-derived economic indicators and traditional statistics to nowcast Bolivia's GDP. In March 2025, MEFP and the IDB jointly issued an open call inviting further machine-learning studies on fiscal policy for emerging economies, with cash prizes and guaranteed CIEB publication.

Results

A peer-reviewed study, "GDP nowcasting: A machine learning and remote sensing data-based approach for Bolivia" (Latin American Journal of Central Banking and Auditing, March 2024), reports narrowing Bolivia's official GDP data-release lag from around six months to about two months. No source confirms these nowcasts have yet been used in an actual budget or fiscal-policy decision.

Conclusions

Lab-IA is the earliest-stage and smallest practice in this batch: a US$100,000 capacity-building grant that has produced genuine published research but not yet a documented policy application. Independent Bolivian press coverage notes the country ranked 18th of 19 economies on CEPAL's 2025 Latin American AI Adoption Index (ILIA), situating Lab-IA as a nascent effort rather than a mature programme.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — US$100,000 IDB technical-cooperation grant (BO-T1444), approved July 2024, plus in-kind ministry staff time.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Research and capacity-building phase, 2024-2026; not yet integrated into operational fiscal decision-making.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Economy and Public Finance (MEFP) researchers/analysts, Inter-American Development Bank technical-cooperation staff

Conditions for success

  • Continued IDB co-financing and technical support
  • Access to satellite-derived economic indicators alongside traditional statistics
  • Institutionalised publication channel (CIEB) to sustain research output and external researcher participation

Common failure modes

  • Research findings not yet documented as an input into an actual budget or fiscal-policy decision
  • Small scale (US$100,000) and Bolivia's low relative ranking on regional AI-adoption indices constrain near-term scale-up

Where it fits

Governance type
national government ministry with multilateral development-bank support
Scale
national, pilot/research stage
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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