Venezuela : Recent Economic Developments

This paper reviews economic developments in Venezuela during 1995–97. The overall public sector balance shifted from a deficit of 7 percent of GDP in 1995 to a surplus of 7¼ percent of GDP in 1996. This massive swing was owing to a major increase in the underlying oil surplus, a decline in the non-oil underlying deficit, and the fact that virtually no financial assistance was provided to the banking system, compared with the cumulative 16½ percent of GDP provided in 1994–95 in the context of the banking crisis.