Headquarters of the Central Bank of Venezuela, with the BCV logo in the foreground. File photo.
Venezuela’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 8.78% in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the second quarter of 2023. This follows an increase of 8.40% in the first quarter of 2024 over the first quarter of 2023.
According to a press release issued by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), these figures reflect the economic recovery process that started in the second quarter of 2021. That is, the growth has sustained for 13 consecutive quarters. This recovery has been possible due to the heroic resistance of the Venezuelan people against the economic blockade imposed on Venezuela, the persistence in the government’s economic policy actions and the participation of all sectors, which strengthen the socio-productive framework to build a new economic model.
Impact of the unilateral coercive measures
The unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and its satellites continue to adversely affect the Venezuelan economy. Even though various procedures and initiatives adopted by the government have made it easier to partially overcome this situation, they continue to have an impact on the functioning of all sectors of the economy.
Previous declines in the economic activity before the second quarter of 2021 and particularly between 2019 and 2020 are material expressions of the wounds that these criminal measures against Venezuela have left in the national economy. During that time there were many obstacles to economic functions and in the application of government economic policies as a result of the tightening of the coercive measures since 2019.
It is undeniable that Venezuela has suffered substantial economic losses since 2015 when these unilateral coercive measures were first imposed. It is essential to keep this history present in the collective memory today while the economy is going through a phase of recovery.
Real path to recovery
The results of the last three years indicate that the Venezuelan economy is on a real path to recovery, where it is reinventing itself and overcoming obstacles. The continuity of the positive results in the economic dynamics is the result of the supreme effort of the Venezuelan people, despite the extreme difficulties imposed by unilateral aggressions and schemes carried out by the United States, the European Union, and other countries in their efforts to force Venezuela into submission.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
