Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (C) entering the National Assembly, Jan. 15, 2024. Photo: Prensa Presidencial.
In 2023, the Bolivarian government achieved a slowdown in inflation, a stabilization of the exchange market, and growth in the non-oil economy.
On Monday, President Nicolas Maduro presented his annual report to the Venezuelan nation. During his speech before the National Assembly (AN), he highlighted the achievements made by his administration in 2023 amid the US economic blockade and sanctions.
“Venezuela is one of the 19 countries whose economic, commercial and human rights have been illegally and systematically violated by the United States every day for nine years,” the Bolivarian leader said.
Between 2015 and 2022, as a result of the US sanctions against the Bolivarian socialist revolution, Venezuela experienced a drop of US $642 billion in its gross domestic product (GDP).
“This was an economic massacre,” Maduro said, highlighting that the US aggression affected not only the Venezuelan state but also private companies operating in his country.
As reported by Venezuelan Communication Minister Alfred Nazareth in the tweet below, President Maduro said that “since the economic war began frontally in 2015, oil production fell 87% and reached its lowest level in June 2020, with 339,000 barrels per day, compared to January 2015, when 2.5 million barrels were produced per day. [From then] until 2022, Venezuela stopped producing 3.9 billion barrels, which represented a loss of US $323 billion for the country.”
#Ahora Pdte. @NicolasMaduro: Desde 2015, cuando empezó frontalmente la guerra económica, la producción petrolera cayó 87%, llegando a su nivel más bajo en junio de 2020 con 339 mil barriles diarios frente a 2,5 millones que se producían en enero de 2015. Venezuela dejó de… pic.twitter.com/EYSBRAX6gS
— Alfred Nazareth (@luchaalmada) January 15, 2024
Maduro also recalled that his administration set out to achieve 12 goals in 2023, among which was the consolidation of economic growth with equality, the gradual transition from the rentier model to a diversified model, and the maintenance of social policies.
In this process of recovering growth without abandoning the welfare state, the Venezuelan president highlighted three macroeconomic objectives achieved, namely, the slowdown in inflation, the stabilization of the exchange market, and the growth of the non-oil economy.
Venezuela has also managed to consolidate an agricultural transformation that will allow it to become an exporter of “healthy, safe, and sovereign food.”
“President Nicolas Maduro mentioned that 73 tourist routes were put into operation in 19 states for foreign and local visitors,” reported Venezuelan Communication Minister Alfred Nazareth (in the tweet below). “We closed December with an increase of 56.8% in the number of tourists, that is, 11,257,880 more tourists compared to 2022. This means that 30,381,435 tourists moved throughout the country during 2023. As the poet Chino Valera Mora would say, ‘We are a wonderful country in motion.'”
#Ahora Pdte. @NicolasMaduro: En 2023 se validaron 73 rutas turísticas en 19 estados del país, para visitantes extranjeros y propios. Cerramos el mes de diciembre con un incremento del 56,83% de turistas, es decir 11 millones 257 mil 880 más con relación al 2022.
Es decir, se… pic.twitter.com/Uz9CPlXE3z— Alfred Nazareth (@luchaalmada) January 15, 2024
Currently, despite the US economic blockade, 96.7% of the food consumed in Venezuela comes from domestic agricultural units, among which micro-, small-, and medium-sized farms are predominant.
This historic transformation has involved long-term efforts that involved the allotment of 13.9 million hectares to some 427,000 families by the Bolivarian revolution.
“These figures were not achieved even in the 40 years of the supposed agrarian reform carried out in the Fourth Republic,” pointed out President Maduro.
Additional translation by Orinoco Tribune
SL
