Venezuela votes in a different economic context, but with historical difficulties

The Venezuela The country that holds presidential elections this Sunday is far from the one that went to the polls in 2018, when it faced hyperinflation, shortages and exchange rate instability, among other ills, in economic terms, although long-standing problems still persist, such as low wages, poverty, poverty and the services crisis.

The ten candidates, including President Nicolás Maduro, promise a next six-year term of opportunities for all, including migrants who want to return, with plans for recovery and, above all, improvements in living conditions and income.

Below are ten key points of Venezuela’s economy 2018 vs. 2024:

The GDP

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which fell more than a 70% between 2013 and 2020 – according to independent calculations -, has been improving since 2021, and the authorities expect growth above that 8% this year. In 2018 alone, it contracted by 19.6%according to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).

Inflation

In 2018, the country experienced hyperinflation that closed the year in 130.060% and which lasted four years, until the end of 2021, after which a process of deceleration of the rate of price growth began, with ups and downs, which reached 1% last month, its lowest level since 2012.

The supply

Empty shelves were the common image in 2018, when the supply was only 30%, according to data provided to EFE by the National Association of Supermarkets and Self-Service Stores (ANSA), which today estimates that percentage at 98%.

Poverty

According to the Living Conditions Survey (Encovi), the 91% of the population was poor by income level -the 75% in a situation of extreme poverty – in 2018, as a result of “hyperinflation and shortages”, figures that fell after lto “economic liberalization”until reaching 2023 82.8% in general poverty and 50.5% in the case of the extreme.

The oil

Production has recovered steadily since 2020, when it fell to 569,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to the pandemic and economic sanctions, and reached 783,000 bpd last year. However, it has not yet reached the 2018 level of 1.51 million bpd. In the first half of 2024, it exceeded 900,000 bpd, and the Government estimates that it will close this year at one million.

The electrical sector

In 2018, the country suffered thousands of power outages that the government blamed on acts of sabotage or the actions of animals, such as iguanas, but according to experts, it was due to lack of maintenance, corruption and the brain drain due to migration, a crisis that was exacerbated the following year with prolonged blackouts and that persists today, especially in the regions furthest from the capital.

The coin

Six years ago, the bolivar – the local currency – was losing its value at a dizzying rate, which led the Executive to eliminate five zeros in 2018 and another six in 2021, fourteen in total, if the three eliminated in 2008 are counted. Today, the bolivar has gained stability, devaluing just one 1.23% in the first half of the year, while in the same period of 2018 it fell by more than 90% against the dollar, in the official market.

The controls

In 2018, the country completed fifteen years under exchange controls that gave the State a monopoly on currency management, and price controls that, combined with massive inspections, generated an acute shortage of basic products, policies that were relaxed in recent years and are no longer applied today.

The job

Authorities say that today Venezuela “It is one of the countries with the lowest unemployment in the region,” Although the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has not updated this data since 2018, when the “unemployment rate” was around one 7%.

Salary

Venezuela, when elections were held in May 2018, had a minimum wage – a reference for all other public sector salaries – of one million bolivars, equivalent to about fourteen dollars a month at the official exchange rate. Despite several adjustments, today that salary, which in local currency is 130 bolivars, is barely US$3.5.

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