Writer and entrepreneur Jason Batansky explores crucial issues facing Venezuela, including the country’s economic problems and loss of revenue due to its massive oil supply being squandered.
Speaking via remote from Bogota, Colombia, Batansky outlined what he calls the country’s “broken” social and economic policies.
“I would really say it’s more internal pressure,” he said about Venezuela’s lack of efficiency in dealing with its vast oil supply. “You would think that being a country that has the largest oil reserves in the world, more or less, that they would be swimming in money.
“But it’s being mismanaged because of the broken Socialist and economic policies. When you look into what they are doing with the oil, some of it is going to allies like Cuba, being sold at discount rates. A lot of it is being used domestically.”
Batansky added that some of the oil is being smuggled across the border to Colombia or is being sent to China to repay debt.
“Capitalism has dominated and the socialist policies that were created, were created naively. A lot of people have mistrust in the economy – the middle and upper class – they took their money out of the country as much as they could, which they like to call capital flight.”
In addition, many Venezuelans trade currency on the black market to make a quick buck, while a lot of domestic producers of basic food items such as sugar or milk opt to sell to foreign smugglers because they can make twice as much as selling locally. Most of these smuggled goods end up going to Colombia.
Another major economic issue facing Venezuela is the nationalization of many of its industries, according to Batansky. This has resulted in little money to import goods, and the government also recently limited the amount of profit a company can make. “So lots of businesses have even less incentive to sell items in the country.”
He said that with the amount of revenue left over, there’s simply not enough to really sustain the social system they’ve built, and inflation that keeps growing every year. “The social programs are actually quite good and have turned Venezuela around in a lot of different ways, but to sustain the system is very difficult because of the policies they’ve created.”
In the full interview, Batansky also discusses the shortage of breast implants in Venezuela – a nation known for being obsessed with beauty and plastic surgery.
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