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http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/15/americas/venezuela-slide-into-crisis/index.html?sr=fbcnni051616venezuela-slide-into-crisis0715AMVODtopLink&linkId=24539050



Venezuela is currently seeing sky-high inflation brought on by plummeting oil prices, which has resulted in a chronic shortage of goods, medicine and power -- all of which is contributing to widespread political unrest. Maduro threatened Saturday to seize idle Venezuela factories and jail their owners following a decree granting him expanded powers to deal with the country's acute economic crisis. GDP growth by annual percentage in Venezuela source: World bank what's behind all this? Government workers get two-day workweek in Venezuela 02:07Maduro is the heir of the populist president Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer in 2013. Riding to power in 1999 on the back of anti-U.S. sentiment and high oil revenues, Chavez implemented a heavily statist economic model. But the leftist nature of the movement created enmity with many, including the United States, and Chavez was a regular thorn in the side of former U.S. President George Bush. But Maduro lacks his predecessor's firebrand populism and, crucially, the high oil prices that funded many of his social programs. This combination has led to widespread dissatisfaction with the former bus driver'stime at the helm.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/29/venezuela-is-on-the-brink-of-a-complete-collapse/


The only question now is whether Venezuela's government or economy will completely collapse first.

The key word there is "completely." Both are well into their death throes. Indeed, Venezuela's ruling party just lost congressional elections that gave the opposition a veto-proof majority, and it's hard to see that getting any better for them any time soon — or ever. Incumbents, after all, don't tend to do too well when, according to the International Monetary Fund, their economy shrinks 10 percent one year, an additional 6 percent the next, and inflation explodes to 720 percent. It's no wonder, then, that markets expect Venezuela to default on its debt in the very near future. The country is basically bankrupt.

That's not an easy thing to do when you have the largest oil reserves in the world, but Venezuela has managed it. How? Well, a combination of bad luck and worse policies. The first step was when Hugo Chávez's socialist government started spending more money on the poor, with everything from two-cent gasoline to free housing. Now, there's nothing wrong with that — in fact, it's a good idea in general — but only as long as you actually, well, have the money to spend. And by 2005 or so, Venezuela didn't.

Why not? The answer is that Chávez turned the state-owned oil company from being professionally run to being barely run. People who knew what they were doing were replaced with people who were loyal to the regime, and profits came out but new investment didn't go in. That last part was particularly bad, because Venezuela's extra-heavy crude needs to be blended Or refined — neither of which is cheap — before it can be sold. So Venezuela just hasn't been able to churn out as much oil as it used to without upgraded or even maintained infrastructure. Specifically, oil production fell 25 percent between 1999 and 2013.

The rest is a familiar tale of fiscal woe. Even triple-digit oil prices, as Justin Fox points out, weren't enough to keep Venezuela out of the red when it was spending more on its people but producing less crude. So it did what all poorly run states do when the money runs out: It printed some more. And by "some," I mean a lot, a lot more. That, in turn, became more "a lots" than you can count once oil started collapsing in mid-2014. The result of all this money-printing, as you can see below, is that Venezuela's currency has, by black market rates, lost 93 percent of its value in the past two years.

It turns out Lenin was wrong. Debauching the currency is actually the best way to destroy line up to enter a state-run Bicentenario supermarket in Caraca


Image 2--- Customers line up to enter a state-run Bicentenario supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Venezuela... all those blaming the government for the removal of fuel subsidy, non devaluation of Naira and the fight against corruption should learn!

And the NLC and TUC should just go and dump their asses somewhere. Cos, they are anti development and anti progress.

God Bless Nigeria.

Venesuela fail due to a lot things:-
- Hugo Chavez was poisoned
- inexperienced leadership
- bad policies
- politics just as in Libya

anwe:
Venesuela fail due to a lot things:-
- Hugo Chavez was poisoned
- inexperienced leadership
- bad policies
- politics just as in Libya

fall in oil price was a major blow to Venezuelan economy. Without that, things would still have been going smoothly.

The govt to me, showed weakness when it removed subsidy because of 'some cabals'.

Hmmmm is well

the import of this is that Nigeria can not afford a ONE TRILLION SUBSIDY PAYMENT this year; not even in the nearest future.

We are having a 2 trillion deficit in the budget which govt will be financing through foreign and domestic borrowing. Now put one trillion subsidy payment in the mix and you have a catastrophe.

NLC , TUC and the civil society groups should put on their thinking cap and take a second look at govt proposal before they plunge this country into an economy recession like Venezuela.

*Price of crude has gone south

*Niger Delta militants are on rampage blowing up
oil wells

*oil majors are shutting down production in the creeks

*oil revenue is dropping fast

*most states cant even afford 18k minimum wage ; with the exception of lagos , rivers, ogun and anambra the rest are almost bankrupt

And yet NLC wants subsidy regime to continue. Its time we ask them (NLC) on whose side they belong?
because i don't see how continuous subsidy payment will help us as a country .

Only a leader like PMB can rule a fantastically corrupt and ethnically polarized country like Nigeria. A stubborn and focused leader. Any policy you bring will be resisted no matter how good. So ignore them. That is why am happy and confident that we can only get better.