Maduro Reveals Statistics on Economic Development During 2022 Annual Speech
“Today, I can say that Venezuela has reached 7.6% [growth] in terms of economic recovery,” declared the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, during his annual address to the nation on January 15. Maduro noted that the economy was forecast to show a yearly growth rate of 4% during 2022.
President Maduro also reviewed the achievements of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela during 2021. The event took place at the gardens of the Federal Legislative Palace, where the National Assembly is located. Ten days after start of the 2022-2023 sessions of the National Assembly, the president of the Republic noted that certain political sectors in the country had thrown all of their resources into sabotaging the national economy and industries. In spite of this, he highlighted, “there was a 4.9% increase in household consumption.”
Venezuela’s foreign trade grew by 33% “without the CADIVI [Venezuela’s exchange regulation system closed in 2014],” President Maduro noted, while mentioning that investments had risen 3.1%. He also stated that oil exports had gone up 4.9%.
“In the last four months we have had single-digit inflation rates,” President Maduro observed. “December’s inflation rate was the lowest since 2015, which makes us optimistic about overcoming hyperinflation.”
He also announced that Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the nation’s state-owned petroleum company, managed to reach its goal of producing a million barrels per day. He then said that production should try to reach two million barrels per day in 2022. Additionally he noted that Venezuela’s digital economy rose 80%, and that the country hasn’t given up on its currency, the bolívar, and that it never will.
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According to President Maduro, 2021 saw 201 million digital economic transactions, a 65% increase with regards to the previous year’s 121 million. He highlighted that the national government has been implementing mechanisms which help to defend the bolívar, promote its recovery, and its coexistence alongside the dollar and other currencies, including cryptocurrencies, which are active in the national economy.
President Maduro also observed the recovery in the output of the Local Committees of Supply and Production (CLAP) initiative, the state-run program providing free food and supplies to the Venezuelan people, 96% of which is produced domestically.
“I thank all of the workers, businessmen and the whole country, because the achievements of economic growth of 2021 are collective, shared and national achievements,” President Maduro said.
He affirmed that “in the year 2021, after five years of financial prosecution, we have managed to activate the true economic forces of the Venezuelan society. Venezuela is back on the path of economic growth.”
Support for entrepreneurs
“To all of the entrepreneurs, during 2022 were are aiming for an expansion of credit, financing, and support for the development of the country,” President Maduro said. “He called on the banks, public and private, to fix their eyes on and support entrepreneurship… Many homes in Venezuela are excited by the possibilities for economic development in the country.”
This year “must be characterized as the year of resurgence and reinforcement of this vital tendency in the country’s economy,” urged Maduro. He then went on to comment on how thousands of men and women, many of them young, have put faith in their knowledge and entrepreneurship. On this subject he informed the public that the governor of Miranda, Héctor Rodríguez, has developed a formula to support these entrepreneurs, which he called the 4-F Plan.
Rodríguez, who himself was present at the event, noted that the first F corresponds to the “Formación” [education] of business leaders regarding the steps they must take as entrepreneurs.
The second is “Formalización,” which refers to the formal, bureaucratic aspects and steps that one must be familiar with.
The third F is Financing, or funding, and the fourth F is “Ferias“, a reference to networking events, or fairs, where entrepreneurs can present their products.
Featured image: President Maduro speaks at the Gardens of the Federal Legislative Palace. Photo: Prensa Presidencial.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
