Weekly Report - 24 October 2013 (WR-13-42)

VENEZUELA | Government presents “unreal” budget. On 22 October the Caracas government led by President Nicolás Maduro presented its 2014 draft budget to the national assembly, which was immediately described as “unreal” and “baseless” by the political opposition. The BF551bn (US$87bn) plan is 39.4% higher in nominal local currency terms than the 2013 budget, but private sector economists calculate that is around US$5.0bn less in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.