Under the informal rule of thumb, Venezuela has officially entered
recession for the first time in five years after posting two quarters of
negative growth. GDP contracted by 4.5% year-on-year in the third quarter, after
falling by 2.4% in the second. The economy and finance minister, Alí Rodríguez,
was compelled to revise his forecast of zero growth for 2009 to a contraction of
between 1% and 2.2%. He refused to revise the BsF159bn (US$74.1bn) budget for
2010, sent to the national assembly for approval last month, some 46% of which
is destined for social welfare spending. The poor results inevitably raised
questions about the sustainability of this spending.End of preview - This article contains approximately 332 words.
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