Running on Fumes

jueves 28 de mayo de 2015

As a Latin American Herald Tribune subscriber, you like to keep up with what is going on in Latin America. And here at LAHT, we love providing you with the information you want and need.

Toward that end, I am providing you the link to a free copy of one of our specialist publications, the Latinvest Venezuela Weekly Report, in which we cover the increasing deterioration of Venezuela.

Over the last week, Venezuela's bolivar has tumbled more than 30% to over 400 to the dollar while the oil rich country's international reserves have simultaneously hit a 12 year low, closing at $17.39 billion yesterday (By way of comparison, Brazil has $362.74 billion, Peru has $60.97 billion, Colombia has $46.54 billion, Chile has $38.03 billion, and even in-default Argentina has $31.49 billion).

At the same time as Venezuela is running low on dollars, inflation is skyrocketing at what we estimate as 165% and shortages of everything from food to water to electricity are widespread. 

The government's response: they blame it all on an "economic war."

Unlike, the magical realism that allowed Hugo Chavez to create a reality distortion field in Venezuela for so long, President Nicolas Maduro must be one of the few leaders to invent an economic war and go on to lose it.

The linked special report delves into the signs and ramifications of Venezuela's increasing crisis, as well as their secret borrowing from the IMF, crashing currency, dangerously low liquidity, shortages, and desperate salaries -- the average salary in the country is now just $18.56 a month at the black market rate, lower than even Cuba's $20 a month.

Thanks again for your continued readership. Please let us know if there is any other way we can be of help.

-Russ Dallen

Publisher

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