Venezuela: From Tycoon to Economic Crisis

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Venezuela was once the richest power in Latin America and also the country with the world's largest crude oil reserves - far surpassing even Saudi Arabia.

• If Saudi wants to catch up, they would have to find another United States' worth of oil to match Venezuela's 300 billion barrels.

With such enormous resources, this country should have been able to "buy a ticket" straight into the group of global high-income economies.

But in less than a decade, GDP evaporated by more than 80%. Inflation in 2018 exceeded 130,000%, and by 2023 it was still nearly 200%.

The crisis was so bad that many international organizations stopped collecting economic data. The country is now isolated, millions have migrated, the government is unstable and lacks the capacity to exploit its own main resource.

At the end of 2023, Venezuela threatened to annex Guyana, further alienating it from the international community. In 2024, the controversial election raised questions: does President Nicolas Maduro's government have the ability to lead this country out of the crisis?

From a wealthy and stable country, Venezuela is now among the world's poorest and most dangerous economies. The question is: What caused a country possessing a gigantic "black gold" mine to collapse so quickly?

In this week's blog, Viet Hustler will join readers to explore Venezuela's journey from "lottery jackpot winner" to a textbook example of the resource curse, and draw expensive lessons for other resource-rich countries.

1. Glorious Past Thanks to Enormous Resources

2. Populism and Poor Management - Roots of the Collapse

3. Economic Collapse: Skyrocketing Inflation and Social Crisis

4. Recovery Efforts and Barriers