ABSTRACT
The Venezuelan economy is based primarily on the production and exploitation of natural resources, of which the most significant is petroleum. In 1970 Venezuela was the world’s largest exporter of oil. By 1989 the country accounted for around 1 per cent of world gas output and 2.9 per cent of world oil output, and for 2.6 per cent and 6.4 per cent of the world’s demonstrated gas and oil reserves. More than 90 per cent of Venezuelan exports accounted for by oil products and more than 65 per cent of the country’s tax income comes from oil activity (Alonso 1993).1 Other important minerals are iron ore, nickel, coal and bauxite. Some macroeconomic indicators of trends in the Venezuelan economy are provided in Table 9.1.
