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Economy & Business - September 2004

VENEZUELA: Beginning to motor

President Hugo Chávez 's convincing victory in the recall referendum on 15 August has, as we expected, triggered renewed interest in the country from foreign investors. Oil companies are looking at projects to turn heavy crude from the Orinoco tar belt into lighter and more marketable crude. Other foreign investors, notably the carmaker Fiat, are also going back into the country.The finance minister, Tobías Nóbrega, said that the government is aiming for inflation of between 15% and 18% in 2005 and growth of between 3% and 5%. These forecasts show that the government expects the effect of its economic bounce-back from the crisis of the last couple of years to tail off.

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