The Development Bank of El Salvador (BANDESAL) refused to provide information about bitcoin purchases. This was reported by a non-governmental anti-corruption organization.
The Anti-Corruption Legal Advisory Center of El Salvador (ALAC), which provides citizens with legal assistance in the fight against corruption, published the bank's response. The Development Bank of El Salvador is responsible for managing the funds used by the government to purchase cryptocurrencies. The Bank's document says that the institution cannot disclose "confidential" information about bitcoins.
ALAC criticized the Development Bank of El Salvador for this move.
"Confidentiality restricts citizens, preventing them from receiving information about operations conducted with the use of public funds by BANDESAL."
The law on bitcoin adoption in El Salvador came into force last fall. Then the government of the country began large-scale purchases of bitcoins. The authorities have created a special fund of $150 million for this purpose. Prices in El Salvador can be set in bitcoins, and taxes can also be paid in the first cryptocurrency. The exchange of bitcoin for fiat currency is not subject to capital gains tax, while bitcoin can be exchanged for dollars at the market rate. All enterprises of the country are required to accept the first cryptocurrency.
The government regularly talks about buying bitcoins, and President Nayib Bukele has purchased quite a lot of cryptocurrencies from his smartphone. In fact, the only information that is available about the purchases of El Salvador comes through the announcements of the country's leader on Twitter (he tweets whenever he makes a purchase of cryptocurrency). It is logical that such purchases raise many questions.
The investments of the President of El Salvador have not justified themselves yet, and citizens are in no hurry to use the first cryptocurrency. On paper, the loss from investments in bitcoin is more than $60 million. The country's economy is also not in the best condition at all — the IMF warned that in 2023 the economy will grow by only 1.7% and it will look like a recession.
