After years of decline, the situation in Venezuela is becoming desperate. Could the latest fall in the oil prices provide the tipping point that finally brings to an end the unhappy period of Marxist rule begun by Hugo Chavez in 1999?
In the last two months the oil price has fallen by 20 per cent, ending the hopes of producers around the world that the downward slide of the last two years is over and that prices will soon return to a level that they used to regard as “normal”. For many, the latest fall will be the last straw. Numerous companies have maintained their dividend payments through borrowing. With prices falling again that looks unsustainable. Many, including the state companies, also face hard investment decisions on projects that need higher prices to be viable. With capex requirements outstripping revenue and little prospect of raising more money through rights issues more projects will be postponed or abandoned.
But perhaps the harshest effects of the fall in prices will be felt in countries that are utterly dependent on oil revenue. There the result will be economic decline, rising unemployment and potentially serious social unrest as expectations in terms of living standards and welfare payments are forced down. That is true across much of Opec but nowhere are the problems greater than in Venezuela.