Since November 2023, exporting gold from Bolivia required a Gold Export Certificate issued by the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB). Supreme Decree No. 5076 had made it a supporting document for customs and had asked the BCB's board to set export quotas after checking how much gold it needed to replenish its reserves. Supreme Decree No. 5747 repeals that regime and replaces it. To obtain the M-03 Single Export Form, an exporter must now show that foreign currency equal to 80% of the computable value of its previous gold exports was credited to its own account at a financial institution regulated by the Financial System Supervisory Authority (ASFI).
The shift in approach is clear. The State stops asking for part of the metal and instead asks for the proceeds of the sale to enter the domestic financial system. The presidential spokesman put it this way, “the gold that leaves Bolivia must generate dollars for Bolivia.” For exporters, the measure restores freedom to sell to any buyer, without quotas or a BCB certificate, but adds a cash condition. Before each new export they will have to show that 80% of the value of earlier ones is already in a Bolivian bank.
What the decree requires
The requirement covers six tariff subheadings in the annex, grouped under three headings. They are gold ores and concentrates; gold powder, other unwrought and semi-manufactured forms; monetary gold; and waste and scrap of gold or gold-clad metal, excluding sweepings containing other precious metals. Proof is submitted to the National Service for the Registration and Control of the Trade in Minerals and Metals (SENARECOM), which issues the M-03, and the decree adds a new required document, a note certifying that the foreign currency has been credited to the exporter's account (Article 13(h) of Supreme Decree No. 29165).
The decree presents itself as a traceability mechanism that does not restrict the freedom to export recognised by Law No. 1489, since it acts on a document requirement rather than on the export itself. It has the rank of a supreme decree, and the percentage is not fixed rigidly. The Ministry of Economy and Public Finance may adjust it by ministerial resolution.
The move to the new system is gradual. Holders of a valid Gold Export Certificate may obtain the M-03 until it expires, with SENARECOM checking its validity against BCB information. In all other cases the first export requires no prior proof, but exporting again will require proof that the foreign currency from that first operation has come in.
What is left behind
From the decree's publication, the BCB's obligation to buy the metal and the requirement to sell gold arising from certificates issued under Supreme Decree No. 5076, together with any other related commitment, cease to have effect. From the following business day, the National Customs Service no longer requires the certificate as a supporting document. The previous regime rested on Law No. 1503 of 2023, which authorised the BCB to buy gold on the domestic market to strengthen international reserves.
What the decree leaves open
The text sets the percentage, where the currency must go and when proof is required, before a later export. It does not, however, set a deadline for the credit, define computable value or provide for sanctions other than the refusal of the M-03. Nor does it require the currency to be sold or converted into bolivianos, and it says nothing about the remaining 20%. The BCB and SENARECOM have up to 15 business days from publication to adapt or issue regulations, which may settle these points.
Monitoring falls to SENARECOM, which will report monthly to the Ministry of Economy and the BCB on gold exports, M-03 forms issued and the status of each exporter's cumulative accreditation account. The ministry will assess every quarter the measure's effect on registered export volumes and on foreign-currency inflows into the financial system.
What it means for exporters and banks
For exporting mining cooperatives and companies, treasury planning moves to the fore. They should check which account foreign buyers pay into, how long the money takes to arrive and how each credit is documented against each export, since SENARECOM will keep a cumulative account for every exporter. In a currency market that has operated with a more flexible exchange rate since June, credited foreign currency may be held in the account or sold at a rate negotiated with the bank, because the decree does not require it to be sold to the BCB.
For financial institutions, the decree points to an inflow of foreign currency that could previously stay abroad, and to a new documentary task, issuing the credit notes that exporters will present to SENARECOM. The BCB and SENARECOM regulations, expected in early November, will show how computable value is calculated, within what period and with which documents proof is given in practice.
