Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Economy of Venezuela - statistics & facts
With 102 billion U.S. dollars, Venezuela ranks 10th in the largest economies of Latin America. Nonetheless, if the course of the economy remained constant since its peak in 2012, we could be talking about one of the three largest. From that year to 2023, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased around 74 percent. Considering GDP per capita, the situation denotes even further a poor economic performance, with 3,659 U.S. dollars per person, while the regional average is over 10,000 U.S. dollars.
The fall of the oil industry
The oil industry of Venezuela has everything to be one of the greatest, with the largest proved reserves globally. Despite that, it has been heavily impacted by political instability, international sanctions, poor resource management, and lack of strategy, bringing this sector to a total collapse. During 2013, more than 96 percent of the export value of Venezuela came from different petroleum products, almost a decade later, this figure was lower than 12 percent. Equally, between 2013 and 2023, the total export value of goods decreased 90 percent, or around 80 billion U.S. dollars.Debt and public finances
Following the trend of international trade and the fall of the most important industry, Venezuela topped the ranking of most indebted Latin American countries as a share of GDP. In 2023, Venezuela's general government debt was about 159 percent of the total economic output. Government expenditure is far from promoting austerity, since its expenditure increased by 344 percent from 2022 to 2023. Moreover, the budget balance in relation to GDP has also been negative since at least 2013. Venezuela has been unable to pay its debt since 2017, in recent reports, the country has studied a possibility of debt restructuring, but no significant advances have been made.One of the highest inflation rates in the world
During 2023, Venezuela recorded the second-highest inflation rate in the world, with a whopping 337 percent. To put things in perspective, the Latin American average in 2023, was around 14.41 percent. The history of price increases is not a recent one, the increasing trend reached its peak in 2017, when it recorded over 63,000 percent, followed by another year with a five figures rate. The cycle of inflation in the South American country is expected to continue, with a lack of measures to truly solve the problem, added to the current political turmoil and the expectation of inflation by consumers and companies.
