Plagued by the protracted underperformance of its oil sector upon which the country’s economy remains heavily dependent, the government of Venezuela has reportedly sent signals that it expects that crude exports will play an improved role in financing the country’s budget in 2022.
A Reuters report of just over a week ago has indicated that the administration of President Nicholas Maduro expects income from the country’s oil exports to finance 61% of its national budget next year.
Not only does the news come against the backdrop of several years of production shortfalls for the country’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, a circumstance due largely to United States pressures that served to place tough sanctions-related limits on Venezuela’s capacity to both recover and export its oil, but also against uncertainties as to whether US pressure, going forward will not further strangle Venezuela’s oil sales, in effect compromising the country’s earnings from its huge oil sector.