Economic policy of the Nicolás Maduro administration
People in Venezuela receive about $3.5 to $4 billion per year in remittances from family members; this change allowed Venezuelans to spend that money and started an economic recovery.[40] An Associated Press report dated February 2014 noted that "legions of the sick across the country" were being "neglected by a health care system doctors say is collapsing after years of deterioration."Doctors at one hospital "sent home 300 cancer patients ... when supply shortages and overtaxed equipment made it impossible for them to perform non-emergency surgeries."As a result, "many patients began dying from easily treatable illnesses when Venezuela's downward economic slide accelerated after Chavez's death."Among the items "in critically short supply" were "needles, syringes and paraffin used in biopsies to diagnose cancer; drugs to treat it; operating room equipment; X-ray film and imaging paper; blood and the reagents needed so it can be used for transfusions."Dr. Douglas Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation, said, "Two months ago we asked the government to declare an emergency," but they received no response.[43][44][45] Another widespread outage occurred on December 2, 2013, days before Venezuela's nationwide municipal elections, just after 8 p.m. local time; power began to return within an hour or two, "though remoter parts of the nation of 29 million people were still in the dark late into the evening."[46] Critics stated that a lack of maintenance had caused the outage, while President Maduro accused the opposition of sabotaging the national grid with the aim to discredit him ahead of the nationwide municipal elections.[46][47] By February 2016, the Venezuelan government began rationing electricity in the capital city of Caracas, blaming El Nino for low energy production from the country's hydroelectric plants.[49] In 2011, the Venezuelan government promised to build an additional 3 million housing units in a country where many "live in precariously built shacks in the hilly capital, Caracas" according to The Washington Post.[59] In March 2019, The Wall Street Journal said that "Mr. Maduro has long used food and other government handouts to pressure impoverished Venezuelans to attend pro-government rallies and to support him during elections as the country's economic meltdown has intensified.[70] In January 2015, Maduro toured countries in Asia seeking support following the steep decline in oil prices since June 2014, asking for financial agreements and the cut of production by OPEC.[71][72][73] In July 2015, Maduro's "government ordered major food companies, including units of PepsiCo and Nestlé Inc., to evacuate warehouses in an area where the state plans to expropriate land to build low-cost housing.[77] The loss of 173,000 Venezuelan jobs was allegedly due to the implementation of Maduro's Organic Law of Fair Prices according to the president of the Business and Trade Union Services Zulia (UCEZ), Gilberto Gudino Millan, because it supposedly prevents the free development of the private sector.[89] In February 2016, The Washington Post stated: "The political drama in Venezuela, where a populist, authoritarian government is attempting to cling to power despite losing a legislative election by a landslide, tends to obscure a deeper crisis.[1] In early 2014, the Central Bank of Venezuela did not release statistics for the first time in its history with Forbes reporting that it was a possible way to manipulate the image of economy.[96] In April 2014, the International Monetary Fund stated that economic activity in Venezuela is uncertain but may continue to slow saying that "loose macroeconomic policies have generated high inflation and a drain on official foreign exchange reserves".[99] According to El Nuevo Herald, most economists said that the measure will only help temporarily due to the official inflation rate being over 59% and that the wage increase will only make situations on companies more difficult since they already face a shortage of currency.[103][104][105] It was also stated in the BCV's August report that it was an "economic war that hindered the normal course of production activities and distribution of essential goods demanded by the Venezuelan people".[34] In December 2017, Nicolas Maduro announced that Venezuela will issue an oil-backed state cryptocurrency called the ‘Petro’ in an attempt to shore up its struggling economy.[135][136] In April 2014, President Maduro said that he had new plans for an "economic offensive," focusing on three objectives: to find new ways to spur economic production at all levels of the country, as growth had slipped in 2013 to 1.6% after record growth of 5.6% in 2012; to dismantle obstacles hindering goods from reaching ordinary citizens, including increased inspections and sanctions on companies found to be smuggling or hoarding goods; and to continue enforcing a "law of fair prices," which in part caps profits for businesses at 30%.[149][150][151] Venezuelan producers also state that the lack of US dollars and strict price controls make it difficult to import the simple goods that are relied upon in Venezuela.[170][171][173][174][175] The forced Daka price changes helped Venezuela's ruling party, PSUV, win in some of the municipal elections,[176] though the massive sale of goods caused further shortages in the months following the initiative.[170][180] In an interview with President Maduro by The Guardian, it was noted that a "significant proportion" of the subsidized basic goods in short supply were being smuggled into Colombia and sold for far higher prices.Economists say that such measures were due to multiple issues, including an unproductive domestic industry that has been negatively affected by nationalizations and government intervention, and confusing currency controls that made it unable to provide the dollars importers that need to pay for the majority of basic products that enter Venezuela."[184] In March 2014, President Maduro introduced a new "biometric card" that requires the users fingerprint called Tarjeta de Abastecimiento Seguro for purchases in state-run supermarkets or participating businesses that is allegedly meant to combat smuggling and price speculation.[189] In August 2014, it was reported that the Tarjeta de Abastecimiento Seguro failed to go past the trial phase and that another "biometric card" was going to be developed according to President Maduro.[190] Soon thereafter, in August 2014, President Maduro announced the creation of a new voluntary fingerprint scanning system that was allegedly aimed at combating food shortages and smuggling.[191][192] The Venezuelan government announced that 17,000 troops would be deployed along its border with Colombia,[193] where they will assist in closing down traffic each night to strengthen anti-smuggling efforts.[202] Lorenzo Mendoza, the president of Empresas Polar, Venezuela's largest food producer, expressed his disagreement with the proposed system, saying it would penalize 28 million Venezuelans for the smuggling carried out by just a few.
Source: World Bank
Sources: International Monetary Fund: Data & Statistics (1980–2008, 2015) and CIA: The World Factbook (2009–2014)
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