Maduro Orders Limits on Nonessential Imports, Pushes National Production

During his weekly program Monday, President Nicolás Maduro called on all economic sectors to “limit unnecessary and superfluous imports and strive for production in order to advance toward full self-sufficiency for the country.”

“One element that must be achieved is the country’s self-sufficiency in everything—and its limitations as much as possible,” he said. “I tell all economic sectors, especially commercial ones: limit unnecessary and superfluous imports and strive to produce. Because if you want to import a product that isn’t necessary or indispensable for the functioning of society, the economy and people’s lives, then you are wasting the people’s and the country’s dollars. The system generates wealth in foreign currency, and that wealth should and must be invested in Venezuela’s industrial, autonomous and technological development.”

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Maduro emphasized that the country’s economic direction is based on national production, self-sufficiency and monetary sovereignty, saying: “The flow of petrodollars that existed before the economic war, the criminal sanctions and the blockade no longer exists.”

The head of state stressed the need to boost domestic production and reduce imports. “The currencies the country handles today are national; they belong to all the Venezuelan people. We have built a new economy and are achieving important milestones: domestic production, domestic supply, a functioning trade system and technological payments,” the president reiterated.

Strengthening the use of the bolívar
The National Association of Supermarkets and Self-Service Stores (ANSA) reported last week that so far this year, 95% of supermarket transactions are made in bolívars, while only 5% are made in foreign currency.

In response, the president commented: “We must build a payment and exchange system that is undisturbed.” He recalled how, in 2017 and 2018, Venezuelan banknotes were being smuggled out of the country to Colombia, creating a cash crisis. He highlighted the technological solutions developed to create new digital payment methods and overcome those obstacles.

President Nicolas Maduro on Con Maduro+. Photo: Presidential Press. — President Nicolás Maduro on *Con Maduro+*. Photo: Presidential Press.

Maduro said the practice of pricing goods in dollars in stores will be eliminated, as it is part of the economic war driven by extremist groups.

He also celebrated the announcement of the opening of 30 new supermarkets on October 1, noting that “there is great purchasing power because we have recovered income systems, step by step, using new formulas in a war economy. There is a multifaceted war against Venezuela, and we have had to reinvent ourselves.” He added that growth in the trade sector this year exceeds 20% and the real economy is growing by 9%, supported not only by the hydrocarbon sector but by all economic drivers.

“Venezuela currently produces more than 10,000 products across all sectors, driven by 13 engines of economic development,” he said.

“The price of crude oil is falling internationally, and we must completely eliminate dependence on oil revenue. We will achieve this. They launched missiles against the oil economy, but Venezuela reinvented itself,” he insisted, adding: “Venezuela maintains sustained growth, resulting in increased purchasing power for its citizens.”

President Maduro: Venezuela Anticipates 9% GDP Growth by End of 2025

High-extension conucos
Maduro revealed the arrival of a South American investment that will plant 350,000 hectares in the eastern part of the country—primarily soybeans—under the concept of high-extension conucos [a type of smallholder farm using Indigenous cultivation techniques].

“They will produce for export, with their own capital and technology, respecting our internal quality standards. It will be regenerative, agroecological agriculture. Venezuela is on its way to becoming the world’s breadbasket.”