“2015 will be the year of victory, peace and economic rebirth”, President Nicolás Maduro declared during the presentation of his state-of-the-nation address to the national assembly on 21 January, six days later than it was due. Any victory is likely to be pyrrhic and peace and economic rebirth must seem distant prospects for even the most optimistic supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution. Maduro offered nothing beyond a few tweaks to the government’s economic model during a speech which coincided with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashing last October’s economic forecast for Venezuela from a 1% to a 7% contraction in 2015 as a result of the precipitate fall in oil prices on the grounds that each US$10 fall per barrel of oil equated to a 3.5% decline in GDP. The political opposition, meanwhile, is poised to unveil a ‘plan of action’ which points to the intensification of protests against the Maduro administration.End of preview - This article contains approximately 778 words.
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