President Nayib Bukele said in a tweet that El Salvador purchased 80 Bitcoins worth $1.52 million. The country seems to be bullish on Bitcoin in the long term, even after a 70% drop from its peak in November 2021.
The President’s tweet also included a screenshot of 40 Bitcoin purchases made on Thursday.
The country made its last purchase in May, when it acquired 500 coins for $30,744 each, a total of $15.3 million. From September 2021 to date, El Salvador’s Bitcoin stash value is down by 55.03%; it has purchased a total of 2301 Bitcoins for $103.9 million. However, the value of its portfolio stands at $46.6 million.
As per Alejandro Zelaya, Finance Minister of El Salvador, the amount invested in Bitcoin is 0.5% of the country’s annual budget, as of May. When asked about the effect of the current market downturn on its portfolio the minister said that the bitcoin losses posed an “extremely minimal” risk to the country’s economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which works with developing countries to promote a sound monetary policy and sustainable growth, has warned the Central American country catastrophic repercussions of the leadership’s decision to declare Bitcoin as a legal tender. However, the President and his administration have ignored all such warning from other organisations like Fitch Ratings and the World Bank.