Venezuela
Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and New Granada, which became Colombia). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Hugo CHAVEZ, president since 1999, seeks to implement his "21st Century Socialism," which purports to alleviate social ills while at the same time attacking capitalist globalization and existing democratic institutions. Current concerns include: a weakening of democratic institutions, political polarization, a politicized military, drug-related violence along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Bolívar fuerte (ISO code: VEF)
- Central bank discount rate: 33.5% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 22.37% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $78.09 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $10.69 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[2] | 97 974 | 117 148 | 122 910 | 92 890 | 83 529 | 112 452 | 145 513 | 184 509 | 228 071 | 314 150 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[3] | ||||||||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[4] | 18.960 | 21.179 | 21.728 | 22.842 | 24.028 | 24.647 | 28.262 | |||
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[5] | 19.973 | 21.639 | 24.083 | 23.322 | 25.155 | 24.707 | 25.066 | |||
| Debt to revenue (years) |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCIA_VE - ↑ World Bank. "Venezuela: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Venezuela: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Venezuela: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
- ↑ World Bank. "Venezuela: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.
External links
- Venezuela on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Venezuela
- Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile
- A Tale of Two Shortages by Doug French, September 2009, about the coffee industry