Bolivia's new president ran on a slogan that would have sounded strange in the country just a few years ago: "capitalism for everyone."
Now Rodrigo Paz's government is backing that promise with a bill that would make it much harder for any future leader to seize private property. The proposal, submitted to Congress on August 12, 2026, would require lawmakers to approve any expropriation or nationalization through a law of national priority.
In plain terms, the president could no longer wake up one morning and decide to take over a company. The executive and legislative branches would both have to sign off.
Finance Minister José Gabriel Espinoza laid out the thinking in an online broadcast. "The executive and legislative branches would have to agree to carry out something like a nationalization or expropriation," he said. "That puts restrictions on any political discretion."
He framed the change as a matter of stability, not just process. The new law would make any seizure "a decision of the Bolivian state, and not of whoever happens to be in government at the time."
That distinction matters because Bolivia has a long history of the opposite. The Socialist Movement party, known as MAS, ruled for nearly two decades until Paz won the presidency in 2025. During that stretch, the government repeatedly nationalized energy, mining, and telecom assets. Earlier governments also piled on legal restrictions that scared off both foreign and domestic investors.
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Those policies, combined with broader mismanagement, helped push the economy into its current crisis. Paz drew support from former MAS voters by promising a friendlier climate for business.
The bill is just the first in a series of structural-reform laws. Next up are measures covering hydrocarbons and public-private partnerships. Those future bills would accept arbitration, whether domestic or international, within the existing constitutional framework.
Here is where the legal details get interesting. Bolivia's Constitution dates to 2009, adopted while left-wing leader Evo Morales was in his first term. It places limits on international arbitration for hydrocarbon projects.
Espinoza said rewriting the constitution would take too long and would hold back the dollar inflows Bolivia needs for an economic recovery. So instead, the administration plans to use association contracts to allow arbitration in the energy sector without touching the Constitution.
The investment bill also creates a mechanism to prevent and resolve investor disputes before they ever reach arbitration. And it sets up a National Investment Agency to align federal and local efforts, cut bureaucracy, and improve investment conditions. Contracts for public-interest investments and public-private partnerships would be allowed when private capital is needed.
The bottom line: Bolivia is trying to signal that it is open for business without rewriting its founding legal document.
The stakes here go well beyond politics. Bolivia's economy is struggling, and the government sees private investment as a key way to generate jobs while the public sector cuts spending and lowers the fiscal deficit.
The informal economy is a massive part of that picture, with more than 80% of people in the labor force working outside formal arrangements. The administration's bet is that a friendlier investment climate creates enough formal jobs to pull people into the official economy.
For investors, the question is whether the signal is credible. A law that requires legislative approval for expropriations is a meaningful check on executive power, but it is not a guarantee. Congress can change laws. Future governments can amend them.
Still, the direction is clear. Bolivia is trying to reverse decades of statist policy and convince outside capital that the rules will not change mid-game. Whether that is enough to revive the economy depends on whether the next bills deliver on their promise and whether investors decide the risk is worth taking.
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