Skip to main content
NEU Senior Industrial Organiser
Venezuela: why the rift between its communists and the Maduro government?
Britain's Communist Party leader ROBERT GRIFFITHS reports back from his recent visit to the Latin American country
BETTER TIMES: Militants of the Communist Party of Venezuela (note the chracteristic PCV red cockrel symbol) at the closing rally in Caracas of the ‘Yes to constitutional reform’ campaign November 30 2007 [LuisCarlos Díaz/flickr/CC]

VENEZUELA’S economy is likely to grow faster than most this year and next, according to Credit Suisse. GDP is forecast to have grown by as much as 20 per cent this year (the IMF reckons 6 per cent), up from around 4 per cent in 2021 (the IMF claims 0.5), before easing down to 7 or 8 per cent in 2023. 

But there is still a long way to go before the average output and income per head trebles to reach its level before world oil prices began falling a decade ago. 

A severe devaluation of what is now the bolivar fuerte has reduced the scourge of hyperinflation to the lesser problem of inflation, although the revamped currency still struggles to maintain its value in the foreign exchange markets. Many shops remain happier to receive US dollars from foreign tourists.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
READY TO REPEL ATTACK: People rally in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, in support of the enlistment campaign called by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, August 29 2025
Features / 3 September 2025
3 September 2025

US baseless accusations of drug trafficking and the outrageous putting of a bounty on a president of a sovereign country do not bode well, reports PABLO MERIGUET

NEW INDIGNITIES FROM THE NEW TRUMP REGIME: Family members ho
Features / 27 March 2025
27 March 2025
Two months into Donald Trump’s second run as president, what can we glean about his policies towards Latin America so far, asks TIM YOUNG, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
BY POPULAR ACCLAIM: Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro arri
Features / 23 January 2025
23 January 2025
FIONA SIM sees the Venezuelan anti-fascist and anti-imperialist initiatives as offering hope to the rest of the world