For two decades Bolivia's economic model has been based on natural gas exports. The government spent too much of the cash from natural gas on fuel subsidies, inefficient state firms and on propping up the exchange rate. Public debt has doubled since 2014 to around 80% of GDP which is very high for a lower middle income country. Many people are pulling their savings out of banks and buying dollars. But because dollars have become more scarce many people have started buying euros or Chilean pesos.