PDVSA's El Palito refinery is seen in Puerto Cabello, 150 miles (241 km) west of Caracas, September 23, 2009. The banner reads: "Venezuela now belongs to all". REUTERS/Edwin Montilva
Frida Ghitis, WPR: Why Higher Oil Prices Won’t Save Venezuela
When oil prices started their collapse in 2014, plummeting from well above $100 a barrel to just over $29 by early 2016, the market drama sent shockwaves across the global economy, producing winners and losers. Oil importers benefited from sharply lower import costs, while producers’ economies, particularly those that rely on oil for the majority of their exports, went into crisis mode. The financial pressure persuaded many countries that had been overly dependent on oil to enact reforms that they had long known were necessary, but were also politically risky.
Now that crude prices are rising again, the political and economic pressures are easing on oil exporters as revenues, in most cases, begin to surge. But there is one glaring exception, one country that relies on oil exports for essentially all its export revenue and whose economy is continuing its downward spiral despite the sharp rise in oil prices: Venezuela.
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WNU Editor: It all comes down to free markets and common sense economics .... points that the above article covers very well in explaining why even $150/barrel of oil will not be enough to save Venezuela.
