Bolivia is the latest South American nation to use China’s yuan for trade in challenge to the dollar

By CARLOS VALDEZ and DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivia is using the yuan to pay for imports and exports, becoming the latest country in South America to regularly use the Chinese currency in a small but growing challenge to the hegemony of the U.S. dollar. Bolivia’s economy minister said Thursday that transactions worth 278 million Chinese yuan were conducted between May and July. That is about $38.7 million in value and accounts for 10% of Bolivia’s foreign trade in that period. The minister, Marcelo Montenegro, said it was a good start and that Bolivia’s use of the yuan would increase over time. With these transactions, Bolivia joins other countries in South America, most notably Brazil and Argentina, which are using the yuan.