Energy
According to Minister of Electric Energy Alí Rodríguez Araque, the Venezuelan government could declare state of emergency in the power sector due to the crisis affecting power generation in Venezuela.

"We are in an emergency and you can not hide it (...) When power generation declines so much, we are in an emergency situation. We have not declared a state of emergency but we will probably do so."

The minister said that such a measure could be implemented to speed up the allocation of funds required for government investments to increase the level of power generation.

Rodríguez Araque conceded that the crisis in power supply could impact Venezuela's economic performance this year.

"Troubles with power generation could have some effect on the economic performance, estimated at 0.5-percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," the minister said in an interview with Televen, a Venezuelan private TV network.

It is worth mentioning that in 2009, the Venezuelan economy declined 2.9 percent, according to data from the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).

The Venezuelan government has made some investments in the electricity sector. Rodríguez said that the government had plans to add 4,000 MW to the power system, through an investment of USD 4 billions. The goal for 2015 is to generate 30,000 MW.

Rodriguez Araque asked people to make every effort to save power.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Suhelis Tejero
EL UNIVERSAL