With Oil Revenues Plunging, Venezuela Is Facing A Major Economic Crisis

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a cabinet meeting at Miraflores Palace in Caracas in this December 2, 2014 handout photo provided by Miraflores Palace. Credit: Reuters/Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters

Falling Oil Prices Turn Up The Heat On Venezuela’s Maduro -- Time

Oil and gas accounts for a quarter of Venezuela's economy, which was already struggling when global oil prices turned south, compounding Nicolás Maduro's political woes

On Nov. 27, as the OPEC oil cartel gathered in Vienna to discuss falling oil prices, the front page of Venezuela’s anti-government Tal Cual newspaper ran a cartoon showing President Nicolás Maduro and his former oil and economic tzar Rafael Ramírez praying before a barrel of oil. With the oil and gas sector accounting for a quarter of the Venezuelan economy and oil sales the source for around 95% of export earnings, the country has been hammered by the recent drop in prices. OPEC’s decision last week to hold off on production cuts to arrest the decline promises to sharpen the pain for oil-dependent nations like Venezuela. It is also a political challenge for Maduro who has grown increasingly unpopular since being elected after the death of his political mentor Hugo Chávez last year.

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More News On Venezuela's Oil/Economic Crisis

Maduro: Venezuela Needs Credit to Cope With Oil Price Drop -- VOA
Venezuela’s Maduro Accuses Rating Agencies of Hindering Access to Credit -- Latin American Herald Tribune
Venezuela faces hyperinflation threat -- AAP
Venezuela Cuts Government Expenses by 20 Percent -- Latin Post
Venezuela president blasts 'insolent' sanctions vote by U.S. Senate -- Reuters
US Senate Passes Bill to Impose Further Sanctions on Venezuela, Maduro Blasts “Economic Blockade" -- Venezuela Analysis
Venezuelan Bond Buyers Pack Into Manhattan Law Office -- Bloomberg
Venezuela GDP shrank 4.2 pct through third quarter, opposition says -- Reuters
Venezuela, Not Russia, Will Be The First Domino To Fall With The Price of Oil -- Keith Naughton, Daily Caller
Low Oil Prices Accelerate Trouble For Venezuela -- NPR
How Serious Are Venezuela's Economic Problems? -- Nathaniel Parish Flannery, Forbes
Venezuela, Into the Abyss: Plunging oil prices are particularly threatening for one of the most dysfunctional petro states. -- Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy
Is Venezuela headed for a default? -- Leslie Shaffer, CNBC