During his annual address to the National Assembly, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez said that "if oil prices are set at zero, I would use the reserves and we would have enough funds to resist and to move forward."
Chávez made that comment after highlighting that Venezuela has enough money available to fill the income gap. To finance this year's budget, the Executive Office set a reference price of USD 60 per barrel. However, Venezuelan oil basket is currently 40 percent below that value. Given this gap, government officials have decided to use special funds, which have resources amounting to USD 21.5 billion, according to figures reported by the government.
At the end of the 2008 fiscal year, the Treasury had a USD 16.2 billion surplus (VEB 35.1 billion), which includes the resources that were not used during the period as well as the additional revenues. From that amount, the money that was allocated to the regions must be deducted. Therefore, there are non-committed funds amounting to USD 11.1 billion. These resources are deposited in the Miranda Fund V and, according to the Ministry of Finance, they will serve to cover the financial planning for the first and second quarters of 2009.
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