US$4 billion on loans from Brazil.(VENEZUELA)(Brief article)

0 Comments | Caribbean Update, July, 2009

Brazil plans to finance over US$4 billion worth of investment projects in Venezuela as President Hugo Chavez struggles to cope with low oil prices that have created a cash crunch, reports Reuters (May 27, 2009):

Until a few years ago, Chavez was using petrodollars to compete with his Brazilian counterpart, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for influence among left-wing South American leaders such as Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales. Chavez welcomed Brazil's aid offer. "Brazilian companies should be certain that in Venezuela they will have all of our support," said Chavez, who met Lula in the northeastern Brazilian city of Salvador;

The agreement signed by Brazil's state development bank BNDES paves the way to finance Venezuelan...