Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (left) and Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet (right) in Miraflores Palace, Caracas, Venezuela, January 1, 2024. Photo: Ignacio Ramonet/Resumen Latinoamericano.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, confirmed that the Venezuelan economy grew by 4.5% as forecast by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
“The Central Bank has not provided the figures yet, although they tell me that ECLAC’s expectation of 4.5% has been met. There have been 10 consecutive quarters of growth despite the blockade, and with our own investment,” President Maduro said during an interview with journalist Ignacio Ramonet on Monday, January 1.
In the interview, published by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the Venezuelan president said that Venezuela has experienced economic growth since the end of 2021 after the reactivation and strengthening of the principal driving forces of the economy under his economic recovery program.
He also highlighted the work that his government has carried out in conjunction with all sectors of the country, including the private sector, to consolidate investments and thus strengthen the productive forces of the economy.
“I think we have achieved perfect coordination with all the country’s internal economic actors, and I think we have a very important dialogue and understanding with international economic actors who are arriving with new investments,” he explained. “It is a great achievement of all these years, which was consolidated in 2023. I have some numbers for you here.”
In this regard, President Maduro informed Ramonet about the different sectors that experienced significant growth in 2023.
In detail, he explained that the agricultural sector has registered a growth of 5%, a growth that has been maintained in the last five quarters, which has made it possible to guarantee food security for the population, and to promote exports.
Sustained growth of 4% was also recorded for 10 quarters of all private manufacturing activity in the country. The manufacturing sector still has much room to grow.
“Production of food and beverages has grown more than 1.6%,” he added.
President Maduro also highlighted the growth of the Venezuelan fishing sector, which recorded a 25% growth in production.
“In the aquaculture activity, which is one of those sectors where we have paid special attention, this year we grew by 20%,” the president added. “The shrimp production sector, which is an export sector, grew 98% in 2023. The entire agro-industrial production has grown.”
He further highlighted the agreements with companies from different countries around the world, such as Chinese, US, and Indian companies, to strengthen oil and gas production.
Regarding tax collection, President Maduro added that in 2023 it grew by 25.8%. However, he stressed that there is still a lot of work to be done for the total recovery of social programs and the social welfare State.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, to guarantee income that allows the State to improve the income of workers, and social welfare,” he noted.
“This year, until November, we crossed $5.181 billion in revenue collection,” he expressed. “This indicates that there is a set of very important elements, such as exchange rate stability, and the definitive end of hyperinflation. We have stopped inflation as a structural evil of the century-old economy, and with the policies that we are carrying out we have serious prospects of improving that issue in the months and years to come.”
He also noted that Venezuela achieved an internal supply of 97%, mostly of national production, in 2023.
He stressed that Venezuela is in a stage of building “a new diversified economic model that would give us absolute independence from the entire world, if necessary.”
“In 2023, Venezuela achieved the highest level of internal supply in its internal market in the last 25 years, 97%, essentially with its own production, and with the activity of private economic sectors with complementary imports, with a very clear policy of what can be imported, what cannot be imported, and protection of national production,” he added.
In the field of national and international investments, President Maduro reported that there has been sustained growth in the last three years.
“It is a great achievement of these years, which has been consolidated in 2023,” he explained. “After three years of sustained growth, with 12% in 2022, one of the greatest achievements of 2023 has been the consolidation of foreign and national investments.”
He highlighted that these economic achievements had positive effects for an economy besieged by hundreds of unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and Europe.
“Despite the progress we have had in the Barbados Agreements and the dialogue with the United States government, Venezuela today does not have access to its accounts abroad,” President Maduro pointed out. “We remain a country pursued and besieged. Whatever we have achieved, we have done so with our own efforts, Venezuelans alone, I can tell you, I tell you with pride. We have achieved all this on our own. The private sector, small, medium, large, with some investments from abroad, with public policies that are consensual, correct, relevant, fair, we are achieving growth with our own efforts, practically alone in this world.”
(Ăšltimas Noticias) by Ariadna Eljuri, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
