The government estimates the growth rate
will be 2% at the maximum this year.

"The strategy is to create a public instrument
in which the banks place certain percentages
of their targeted portfolios."

El Universal: The Minister of Economy & Finance Ali Rodriguez Araque said that the fall in oil prices would not only mean a revision of the budget revenues but that the economic growth rate is now estimated to end up 1-2% at the end of this year. The initial goal of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was set at 6% for 2009, according to the National Budget Law which is still in effect. The minister in charge of Venezuela's finances emphasized to Reuters that his objective is to prevent the country from ending the year in a recession.  But even then, Venezuela is not expected to devalue in the near future in order to inject more resources into the economy.

Rodriguez Araque noted that a correction of the exchange rate will only increase prices due to dependence on imports, especially since food prices in the international market -- though they have declined a little -- will rebound in the future.

In an interview with El Universal, the Economy & Finance Minister noted that the exchange rate must be set more to serve Venezuela's "economic strategies than to solve fiscal imbalances" and that therefore he wouldn't rule out a future devaluation of the bolivar. In the reformed 2009 National Budget Law that the executive branch proposed to the National Assembly, the income level is adjusted to Bs.F 156.38 billion, in keeping with the fall in the price of a barrel of oil.  Among other macroeconomic variables used in the budget calculation, the oil price per barrel is reduced from $60 to $40.  The inflation target, however, remains 15%.

What must be changed so the government can avoid taking additional measures?

The main variable is the situation of the global crisis and its potential impact on the oil market...  Venezuela, thanks to its much criticized exchange control, has a kind of wall against the shocks of the powerful waves caused by this global tsunami. With the exception of the Stanford scam, there has been no distressed depositor who has lost his or her savings.  The Venezuelan financial sector enjoys significant solidity. So far, the measures taken by the OPEC managed to stem the decline in oil prices, but there is no evidence yet that there will be a recovery, nor is it possible even to estimate how far the oil market can be affected by a drop in demand. If the global recession gets worse, the oil prices may fall further, and that would make us consider whatever other measure there is.

What is the ideal level of oil prices for Venezuela to comfortably pay its expenses?

We had already reduced our budget benchmark price to $40 per barrel, so we must achieve at least a floor of $40 for the Venezuelan oil basket.  Now, we would love to get to the $60 average for the year, but it all depends on how things go.

What kind of measure is the government preparing in order to reduce the level of imports?

The first thing to do is to implement the program we planned f