Category: Latin America

(Bloomberg) — Venezuela is considering a request from oil companies to cut taxes as a way of coping with a crash in prices and encouraging investments, according to an industry association official with direct knowledge on the matter. The proposal is to lower royalties and extraction taxes to 20 percent from 30 percent, said the official from hydrocarbon association AVHI, who attended meetings with authorities last week and asked not to be named in line with AVHI policy. Facing a shortage of dollars for servicing debt after oil fell 46 percent in the past six months, Venezuela is looking at ways to attract more investment from the national oil company’s joint venture partners. Private companies have held back investments amid currency controls, surging inflation and late payments. Oil accounts for 96 percent of Venezuelan exports. Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment on the proposal. The press […]

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A Texaco fueling station stands near San Nicolas, southeast of Oranjestad, Aruba, on Jan. 3. Gasoline costs about $4.24 a gallon at Texaco and Valero service stations in Aruba. Photographer: Pietro D. Pitts/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — How does an Aruban taxi driver who shuttles mostly U.S. visitors around the Dutch Caribbean save $17,000 a year? By sailing to Venezuela to buy the world’s cheapest fuel. The driver, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because what he’s doing is illegal, said he makes the 18-mile trip to Venezuela’s Paraguana Peninsula at least once a week, loading as much as 104 gallons of Venezuelan gasoline into numerous small containers at a cost of $120. The $3.09 a gallon he saves after expenses on each trip adds up to almost $17,000 a year. In Venezuela, 95-octane fuel costs 0.097 bolivar a liter, or about a fifth of a U.S. penny a gallon […]

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SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) — Protesters clashed with police in this anti-government stronghold Thursday amid a storm of tear gas, rocks and buckshot as Venezuelans staged dueling marches on the anniversary of last year’s bloody protest movement. While demonstrations were mostly calm elsewhere in the country, the anti-government march turned violent in this restive city near the border with Colombia, which was an epicenter of the 2014 movement. A sea of protesters marched in San Cristobal’s streets. Some youths threw projectiles at police officers clad in riot gear, who fired tear gas canisters while onlookers ran in the opposite direction with young children in their arms. At least five people were injured in the fighting, San Cristobal Mayor Patricia Gutierrez said. In Caracas, both friends and foes of Venezuela’s socialist government braved pouring rain to stage competing marches. A small group of students in Caracas rallied against the government […]

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(Bloomberg) — Venezuela had its credit rating lowered by Standard & Poor’s, which said the government will struggle to implement changes needed to shore up the economy. S&P cut Venezuela’s long-term rating by one level to CCC, eight notches below investment grade. The outlook is negative, S&P said Feb. 9 in a statement. “Economic recession, high inflation, and growing shortages have weakened public support for the government, likely reducing its political room to introduce difficult corrective economic measures that would improve its external liquidity position,” S&P said. Venezuela’s gross domestic product could shrink as much as 7 percent this year after the 60 percent plunge in prices for oil since June, S&P said. The commodity accounts for 90 percent of exports and the decline in prices means the government has less room to adjust policy and avoid a default, S&P said. “Pressure is growing for the government to reschedule […]

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Shoppers queue outside the supermarket ‘Dia a Dia’ in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday. The government took over stores of supermarket chain after alleging that it was hoarding food. According to many economists, government controls are making the economic crisis worse. (EPA/Landov) By John Otis, NPR Simon Nobile, 72, runs the Capri pasta factory in the capital Caracas, which was founded by his Italian-born father in 1940. Capri’s two plants crank out 11 million pounds of pasta per month. They could produce nearly twice that much. However, Nobile says a government policy designed to help the poor forces him to sell half of his inventory for just five cents a pound. "There is no incentive because price controls mean that you lose money. So the more you produce, the more money you lose," he says. Another headache is securing the grain to make pasta, says Angie Mendible who works in […]

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