Oil Prices Are Up — So Why Isn’t Venezuela?

Venezuela’s economy should be benefiting from higher oil prices. It isn’t — at least not in any way that ordinary Venezuelans can feel.

Why the disconnect?

Production remains far below historic levels, much of the revenue is committed to debt service and parallel obligations, and corruption siphons off a significant share.

Higher prices on paper are not the same as higher revenues in practice.

Any serious recovery will need to fix the underlying issues, not just wait for the cycle.