Venezuelan economic activity sank 8.3% in the first quarter, ending a two-year long rebound as oil production craters, according to an opposition-led research group.
(Bloomberg) — Venezuelan economic activity sank 8.3% in the first quarter, ending a two-year long rebound as oil production craters, according to an opposition-led research group.
Accelerating inflation that is corroding Venezuelans’ purchasing power, as well as intensified tax collection, led to a decline in consumer demand and industrial output, according to Angel Alvarado, director at the opposition-led Finance Observatory. Venezuela’s government doesn’t regularly publish official gross domestic product data.
“We’re back in the hole,” Alvarado said. “We’ve lost the growth we experienced in the past seven quarters.”
The data show the limitations of Venezuela’s recent recovery while the oil industry, the country’s main source of export revenue, fails to stage a solid recovery amid corruption scandals and underinvestment.
The economy had shown signs of stabilizing following one of the deepest slumps in world history between 2013 and 2020, during which more than 7 million people fled the country.
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Venezuela’s oil production dropped in the first quarter even though Chevron Corp. nearly doubled its output in the country to 90,000 barrels a day, after getting federal approval last last year to restart shipments of Venezuelan crude to US refiners. This indicates that output by state oil company PDVSA “fell sharply”, Alvarado said.
(Updates with comments from research group from 2nd paragraph)
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