How long before everything come crashing on him???;
hopefully we will have Kry problem settled and done with.
Venezuela uses surplus funds to delay implementation of economic measures
President Chavez claims that available international reserves total 25 billion USD
The Executive branch estimates that the GDP will grow less than 6 percent due to the situation of oil prices (AP / File photo)
Economy
During his annual address to the National Assembly (AN), President Hugo Chávez ruled out for now the implementation of economic measures to counter the decline in revenues as a result of falling oil prices. Chávez said that the gap will be filled with the surplus generated last year.
In his speech, Chávez highlighted, "we are not implementing a package of measures". "If oil prices are set at zero, I would use the reserves and we would have enough funds to resist and to move forward (...) Even if the market decides that oil prices must lower to zero, Venezuela will not stop." In this context, Chávez said that Venezuela still has resources that were not used last year and also has extraordinary royalties.
Venezuela's oil basket is averaging USD 37. In order to finance this year's budget, legislators foresaw an average of USD 60. If the fall in oil prices persists, financial authorities consider that the gap will be bridged with the use of special funds and schemes. Chávez has insisted that Venezuela has enough reserves.
According to the official figures, the 2008 surplus amounts to USD 16 billion. When the resources of the unused balance of the National Development Fund (Fonden), including the "windfall profit" tax and the China Fund are added, the total fund would amount to USD 25 billion.
Although the government has reserves available, the Ministry of Finance is taking precautionary measures. On Wednesday, the National Assembly passed an act to issue Treasury bills for USD 1.72 billion.
