This is a shocking news story. Alejandro Rebossio reports in El País that Venezuelans have diverted $405.8 billion from the country. The capital flight in Brazil, a nation with 198 million people and a GDP of $2.253 trillion, is estimated at $519.5 billion.
This situation is indeed more than alarming. Venezuela has currency controls in place. The GDP of Venezuela stands at $382 billion. International reserves for Venezuela total $21 billion. The population is under 30 million, and the per capita income is slightly below $12,000.
Compare those figures with the $405.8 billion, which Rebossio states as 103% of the GDP.
In which jurisdictions are those $405.8 billion taxed?
Through which Venezuelan banks were the $405.8 billion diverted?
Which banking authority failed to prevent such a capital flight?
Given the dynamics of the Venezuelan economy, what can be said about the responsibilities of state-owned enterprises in this situation?
Corruption in abundance…
UPDATE the following day: Rafael Ramírez, acting director of PDVSA, Minister of Energy, and Vice President of Economy (there’s no conflict of interest there), stated yesterday, “We have amassed $477 billion in oil revenue.” The issue is that no one knows where that money is…