Palma, Pedro A. (1990) A New Economic Policy in Venezuela. Presented at the Seminar “Venezuela: Development and Options for the 1990’s”, Latinamerika Institutet I Stockholm “LAIS” of the University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden. September 17-18, 1990.
Venezuela’s economic policy has undergone major changes since early 1989. The country has been put through a severe adjustment process intended to correct deep-seated disequilibria, and it is often said that this adjustment is just the first step of a much broader, permanent economic policy to be implemented in the years ahead. It is viewed as a prerequisite for the elimination of severe accumulated distortions, and a necessary condition for the creation of an environment conducive to the successful implementation of a new and more permanent economic policy. The first part of this paper provides a brief discussion on the disequilibria that had to be corrected, the main features of the adjustment policy, and the immediate consequences of its implementation. Thereafter, we will offer some comments on the second stage of the process: the local economic policy to be put into effect and the direction it could take, not only in the national arena, but also in the regional one.