Venezuela: 10 years on

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ten years ago this month, in March 2013, Venezuela’s charismatic socialist leader Hugo Chavez died and current president Nicolas Maduro took over.

In the decade since, the South American nation suffered an extraordinary economic collapse – the economy shrunk by two thirds, inflation hit six digits, the government chopped 11 zeros off the bank notes, oil production slumped and millions of people fled abroad to escape economic hardship.

We talk to Venezuelans who lived through that collapse, from a shopkeeper who went bankrupt to a university professor whose salary in the local currency, bolivars, is worth just 25 US dollars a month.

We also ask if the worst is over and what the future holds for this once wealthy nation – a founding member of Opec that sits on some of the world’s largest oil reserves.

Producer and presented by Gideon Long Additional reporting: Vanessa Silva in Caracas

(Image: A Venezuelan man holding a Chavez/Maduro balloon. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	The attacker had very good knowledge of banking systems.
0:04.0	$2.1 billion in stolen funds.
0:06.4	Money laundering operations.
0:07.7	A cyber criminal group.
0:08.8	These are smart guys.
0:09.9	From the BBC World Service, The Lazarus Heist is back for a brand new season.
0:14.1	Catch up with Season 1 of the podcast now by searching for The Lazarus Heist, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:20.7	And get ready for season two coming next week.
0:24.5	Hello, I'm Gideon Long. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:29.1	This month marks 10 years since Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, died, and Nicolas Maduro took over.
0:36.6	In the decades since then, the South American
0:38.6	country has suffered one of the most devastating economic collapses in history.
0:43.0	Hyperinflation for four years, the collapse of the economy, the collapse was about
0:49.3	two-third of the GDP, a collapse of more than 80% of the production of oil, the destruction of the
0:57.5	capacity of the oil sector, high level of debt, expropriations, mismanagement, a lot of
1:03.8	corruption.
1:04.9	But in recent years, the Venezuelan economy has stabilized and even grown slightly.
1:09.8	The Maduro government has relaxed price controls,
1:12.7	and now it even allows shops and businesses to trade in US dollars, once seen as the ultimate
1:18.3	symbol of Yankee imperialism. Definitely it's much better right now. I can see many new businesses
1:26.2	opening everywhere. I think things are getting better.
1:32.3	Today we look back at Venezuela's extraordinary 10-year journey and ask if it's weathered the economic storm.
	...

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