The most common products from the manufacturing sector include aluminum, cement, steel, electronics, automobiles, and food and drinks. Venezuela once had a strong and growing economy due to its large-scale petroleum production. Currently, however, it is facing an economic disaster.
Basic necessities such as food, electricity, and medicine are scarce and insufficient for its residents. In addition, this country has experienced extreme inflation.
One of the reasons for this crisis is that the country has overly depended on petroleum rather than focusing on diversifying its economy. These discussions have centered around reducing the oil production of other OPEC members in an attempt to drive up oil prices.
So far, the talks have been unsuccessful although, there has been a slight increase in prices. More: Fact check: Claim of 6 explosions worldwide in the last 24 hours is not entirely true. By building an economy on the success of oil prices, "it distorts everything else," Morris said.
The thriving oil reserve caused the country to put all of its eggs in one basket: It focused mostly on oil production, while other industries have seen less interest, like agriculture, which has been the case historically, Morris said. In economics, this is known as Dutch disease. The country's economic standing fell when oil prices began dropping in the s.
While growth was restored and the economy leveled out, it left poverty in its wake, Morris said. During that, and a subsequent one, over people died. And although Venezuela was more stable at the time of the attempted coups than it is today, things weren't stellar. These programs, which aimed to reduce poverty, were funded by money earned from the country's oil trade.
They pulled some people out of poverty and began closing the gap of inequality. The economy was doing well, Morris said. The missions had a dark underbelly. More: Venezuela's Maduro hikes minimum wage amid rising protests.
Although it may seem sinister, broad military control isn't unusual in Latin American countries, Morris said. The military does a lot more on-the-ground work there than Americans are used to seeing, he said. The military is often used for disaster relief and food distribution.
Latin Americans tend to trust the military more than government leaders, Morris said, so politicians rely on the military to build trust. It was worth more than the U. The move cause even more inflation, as experts warned it would, plunging the country into a spiral from which it has been unable to climb out for the last decade.
Today the bolivar is practically worthless because of hyperinflation; that has crippled the economy. Problems only grew under him: increased poverty, food shortages and a mass exodus of Venezuelans fleeing the country. The US has imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela and on Mr Maduro and his inner circle but they have failed to weaken Mr Maduro enough to drive him from office. Some analysts argue that they offer the Maduro government a convenient scapegoat to blame for the dire state of the economy.
Some of the problems go back a long time. While he managed to reduce inequality during his time in power, some of the socialist polices he brought in backfired. Take price controls, for example, which were aimed at making basic goods more affordable to the poor by capping the price of flour, cooking oil and toiletries.
The controls meant that many Venezuelan businesses stopped production because they no longer made a profit, eventually resulting in shortages.
Years of lack of investment in infrastructure further exacerbated by the more recent US sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector have crippled this key industry, which provides almost all of Venezuela's government revenue.
Venezuela has been in the grip of an economic crisis for years now with hyperinflation one of the main problems. Business news website Bloomberg has been tracking the price of a cup of coffee in the Venezuelan capital , Caracas, to show how prices have increased. According to figures compiled by the United Nations, more than 5. The government has disputed the figures, saying they are inflated by "enemy countries".
The majority of those leaving have crossed into neighbouring Colombia, from where some move on to Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Others have gone south to Brazil. The mass migration is one of the largest forced displacements in the western hemisphere. Venezuela jails US oil executives for corruption. Venezuela opposition figure secretly flees country. Venezuela gold: Maduro wins in UK appeals court. Protests over fuel shortages spread in Venezuela.
0コメント