International Trade
Cargo that has arrived at Puerto Cabello:
- 480 tons of personal care products such as
shampoo and diapers from Procter & Gamble, Unilever y Kuehne Nagel for
their affiliates
- 433 tons of spare parts for vehicles for FORD Motor
e IVECO
- 198 tons of appliances (washing machines,
microwaves and TVs) from MABE y Lilly Associates for their affiliates
- 5 containers of tires from Pirelli for its
branches
17 ships are currently offloading at the Port. More in
Spanish: (Notitarde; http://www.notitarde.com/La-Costa/Llegaron-al-puerto-local-repuestos-para-Iveco-y-Ford-Motor-2463992/2015/07/17/559728)
Cuba is now less dependent on Venezuela
The Cuba Standard Economic Trend Report
Index shows Cuba becoming less dependent on Venezuela due to the economic
crisis here and lower oil dependence on the part of Cuba. Q2 2015 trade
exchanges contracted 5% as compared to Q2 2014, down from 20.4% to 15.4% and
the new aperture toward the US could progressively de-link Cuba from Venezuela
"without collapsing the Cuban
economy". More in Spanish: (El Nacional; http://www.el-nacional.com/)
Logistics & Transport
AVIOR buying 12 planes, adding international routes
Venezuelan airline Avior is purchasing 12 used planes
to offer new international routes after foreign carriers have slashed flights
due to currency controls. AVIOR President Jorge Anez said that the company was
purchasing six planes from Europe's Airbus Group and six from Chicago-based
Boeing CO for a total of about US$ 150 million. With its expanded fleet, Avior
plans to add routes to Peru, Uruguay and Spain, its first European destination.
Airlines have about US$ 3.7 billion from ticket sales trapped in Venezuela
because of the country's 12-year-old currency control system, the International
Air Transport Association said in June. International carriers have slashed
flights to the socialist-run country while they try to repatriate the funds.
"As a consequence of the
circumstances, there are companies that have freed up space, and we're taking
advantage of this opportunity," Anez said. The private Venezuelan
airline is using 10-year financing from an international broker to purchase six
Airbus A340-300s, four Boeing 737-400s and two Boeing 737-300s, Anez added. The
first aircraft is due in September. The carrier, whose hub is in the small
Venezuelan city of Barcelona, already flies to nearby Aruba, Brazil, Colombia,
Curacao, Panama and the United States. (Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/17/us-venezuela-airlines-idUSKCN0PR1VI20150717)
Andean Development Corporations loans Venezuela US$
300 million for highway development
The Andean Development
Corporation (CAF) has loaned Venezuela US$ 300 for highway improvement and
services. More in Spanish: (Ultimas
Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/caf-otorga-prestamo-de-300-millones-para-infraestr.aspx#ixzz3gQLxEmMT)
Oil &
Energy
Venezuela oil basket
falls below US$ 50
Venezuela's weekly oil basket price fell below US$
50 for the first time since April as oil prices slipped in international
markets on economic worries in Europe over Greece's debt crisis, a nuclear deal
that would allow Iran to sell more oil, market turmoil in China, in addition to
the U.S. market remaining amply supplied. According to figures released by the
Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, the average price of Venezuelan crude sold by
Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) during the week ending July 17 was US$ 49.89,
down US$ 0.81 from the previous week's US$ 50.70. (Latin American Herald
Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2392594&CategoryId=10717)
Venezuela’s oil export’s ideal price to balance
the country’s finances should fluctuate between US$ 100/bbl. and US$ 180/bbl., according to
some economists. Yet, others -less optimistic- believe the ideal price should
be between US$ 200/bbl. and US$ 250/bbl., considering most of the revenue would
be wandered away. The current export price is US$ 50.70/bbl. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=44743&idc=2)
Commodities
Venezuela orders
producers to divert food to state stores
The food industry association warns that
Venezuela's government has ordered companies to distribute food staples to a
network of state-run supermarkets amid chronic shortages of basic goods.
Federal authorities ordered producers of milk, pasta, oil, rice, sugar and
flour to supply between 30- 100% of their products to the state stores, he Food
Industry Chamber said. Chamber President Pablo Baraybar warned that the order
could cause major supply problems because there are 15 times as many private
stores in the country as state-run ones. There are about 113,000 private stores as opposed to some 7,245 public
distribution centers. Working-class shoppers often endure hours-long
lines at government-run stores to buy staples at steeply reduced prices.
(Associated Press, http://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-orders-producers-divert-food-204908089.html;
and more in Spanish: Ultimas
Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/economia/cavidea-preve-mas-escasez-en-comercios-por-desvios.aspx#ixzz3gWELGNjT;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150721/cavidea-objeta-desvio-de-alimentos-a-la-red-publica;
El Nacional; http://www.el-nacional.com/)
Economy
& Finance
New FEDECAMARAS head
again calls for dialogue with government
Francisco Martínez, the newly elected President
of Venezuela's main business organization (FEDECÁMARAS) says defending private
enterprise and property rights will be their priority, along with seeking to
dialogue with the Maduro regime. "The
key factor that would contribute to a rapid recovery of the economy is for the
government to give up the idea that business is their enemy...Otherwise the
economic crisis cannot be met successfully", he said. Martínez added
that he firmly opposes an outdated ideological vision of the situation: "We believe the "economic warfare"
speech is a pretext, a media device seeking to share responsibility. But the
government knows very well, and we know it, that there are no deliveries, no
single truck within the food industry that can move in this country without
their authorization...It makes no sense for the government to keep on viewing
private enterprise as its main enemy when in truth it contributes to solving
many of its problems". More in Spanish: (DINERO, http://www.dinero.com.ve/din/destacados/francisco-mart-nez-extiende-su-mano-al-presidente-maduro#sthash.VWeUZnKs.dpuf)
FOREX reserves have reached a new low
FOREX reserves here
have dropped to a new low since June 2003 - US$ 15.684 billion, 0.82% lower
than the previous week. More in Spanish; (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150720/que-esta-pasando)
Former Chavez minister
suggests simplification of FOREX controls here
Rodrigo Cabezas, former Venezuelan minister of
finance and former president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly,
has suggested that the government should consider a simplification of the FOREX
system in Venezuela. "In strict
terms of economic policy, I believe that in the upcoming months or in the
upcoming days, a simplification of the foreign exchange system could be
implemented. (I do not mean) lifting the foreign exchange controls, for they
continue to be a strictly economic measure." He explained that FOREX
controls need to be revised for they could have become troubled by bureaucratic
hurdles and corruption. (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/150720/ex-minister-suggests-simplification-of-venezuela-forex-control)
Venezuela at the bottom of the Big Mac index
According to The
Economist, Venezuela ranks lowest in its Big Mac Index. It says the average
price of the hamburger in the US on July 15th was US$ 4.79 and US$ 0.67 in
Venezuela, when using the SIMADI rate which averages 199 VEB to the US dollar.
The closest runner ups are Ukraine, India and Russia. More in Spanish: (El Nacional; http://www.el-nacional.com/)
If Venezuela defaults, it will be as a result of all the
government’s hasty and populist decisions in the face of difficult elections
ahead, says analyst Moisés Naím. He explains the reason why FOREX controls are
kept in Venezuela is that it has allowed chavista leaders to get immensely
wealthy. (Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=44742&idc=2)
Politics and
International Affairs
Guyana rejects Venezuela's
issuing identity cards in the Essequibo
The government of Guyana announced it opposes
Venezuela's plan to issue Venezuelan identity cards to residents of the
Essequibo region, a territory that has been in dispute between both States for
more than a century. "We will
strongly resist any effort to issue identity cards to our people and we will do
whatever we need to do as a nation to ensure that we are not diverted from our
path to development," said Guyana's Minister of State Joseph Harmon. (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150720/guyana-rejects-issuance-of-venezuelan-identity-cards-in-the-essequibo)
Another opposition
politician barred in Venezuela
A former Venezuelan state governor, Pablo
Perez, says he has been barred from holding public office for 10 years. He is
the third opposition politician to be disqualified in the past week. The state
prosecutor's office barred a former congresswoman, Maria Corina Machado, and a
former mayor, Enzo Scarano for 12 months. Both were expected to run in
December's parliamentary elections, but Perez was not running for parliament. It
was not clear on what grounds he was barred, but he was given 15 days to appeal
against the decision. "Another
attack against democratic dissidence", he wrote on social media. The
opposition says the government of President Nicolas Maduro is clamping down on
the opposition ahead of December's elections, which opinion polls have
suggested the government could lose. (BBC News, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33584205)
27 former heads of
state from Latin America and Spain demand free and fair elections here
Twenty seven former heads of state from Latin
America and Spain have written Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro asking that
upcoming parliamentary elections here in December 6th "be free, fair and impartial", and
have repeated their "willingness to
help as observers so that voting takes place within a climate of confidence and
total transparency". Copies of their letter were sent to US President
Barack Obama and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro. The group is headed by Spain's former President
José María Aznar, along with Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox (México); Jorge
Quiroga (Bolivia); Sebastián Piñera, Eduardo Frei and Ricardo Lagos (Chile);
Andrés Pastrana, Álvaro Uribe and Belisario Betancur (Colombia); Miguel Ángel
Rodríguez, Rafael Ángel Calderón, Laura Chinchilla, Óscar Arias and Luis
Alberto Monge (Costa Rica); Osvaldo Hurtado, Lucio Gutiérrez, Sixto Durán
Ballén and Gustavo Noboa (Ecuador); Alfredo Cristiani and Armando Calderón (El
Salvador); Mireya Moscoso, Nicolás Ardito-Barletta and Ricardo Martinelli
(Panamá); Juan Carlos Wasmosy (Paraguay); Alejandro Toledo (Perú); and Luis
Alberto Lacalle (Uruguay). (Infolatam, http://www.infolatam.com/2015/07/20/expresidentes-iberoamericanos-piden-a-maduro-unas-elecciones-justas-y-libres/)
Approaching implosion?
Evan Ellis, a professor of the Strategic
Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College (SSI) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania,
recently published a report entitled "The
Approaching Implosion of Venezuela and Strategic Implications for the United
States." The paper speaks for Ellis and not for the U.S Army or
government. Ellis considers that Venezuela is on the brink of collapse, which
would have serious repercussions for Venezuela’s neighboring countries and the
region. He claims that "the current
regime in Venezuela is locked in an economic and political death spiral from
which multiple reinforcing dynamics make it difficult to escape calamity."
(Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2392592&CategoryId=10717)
Diaspora grows
According to Simón Bolívar University’s
sociologist and researcher Iván de la Vega, the number of Venezuelans who have
left the country rose from 30,000, living in less than 20 countries in 1992, to
1.5 million, currently living in 94 countries out of the 193 member countries
in the United Nations, according to formal migration records and census. (Veneconomy,
http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=44745&idc=1)
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