LatinNews Daily - 30 October 2020

* Venezuela’s national constituent assembly (ANC) has approved the state budget for 2021, totalling US$8.14bn, a 49% increase compared to the US$5.4bn budget for 2020. Government spending has plummeted in recent years, down from over US$80bn in 2014, as all-important oil revenues have been massively eroded by mismanagement of the sector and by international economic sanctions that have blocked exports and access to credit. This decline had been expected to continue in next year’s budget, and it is not clear where the additional funds will come from. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez reported that 76.4% of the budget – some US$6.22bn – will be allocated to spending on social protection, in response to the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

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