Venezuelan economic growth is to fade if oil prices decline

"If oil prices decline, it will be the end of Mission Housing Venezuela," said economist Maxim Ross, who added that Venezuela s economic growth is mainly based on high oil prices in international markets. 

"Venezuela is actually growing, but the problem is how it is growing. The economy depends on oil revenues and debt. If oil prices were not as high as they are, or if they decline, economic growth would vanish," the economist said in an interview with private radio station Unión Radio.

Ross stressed that the statements made by Venezuelan economic officials, who stated last week that Venezuela has entered a new phase of sustained economic growth, are not true, because the country depends on hydrocarbons.

He recalled that government officials said at the beginning of the past decade that a period of sustained economic growth had started, but when the price of crude oil began to fall in 2008, Venezuela entered a two-year recession the worst economic performance among all the countries in the region.