Consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in March, compared with a 5.5 percent increase in February, the central bank said. The trailing 12-month inflation rate fell to 34 percent from 39 percent.
<a href=news.ft.com>By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: April 2 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: April 2 2003 5:00
Venezuela's finance ministry on Tuesday began revamping plans for a voluntary external debt swap in the weeks ahead, a move that bankers said would be essential to prevent a default on foreign debt payments.
Tobías Nóbrega, finance minister, was due to meet US investment bankers to define a plan to exchange a portion of the country's $22.4bn (£14.1bn) external debt, on which a raft of interest payments are due in June.
President Hugo Chávez unnerved capital markets last week when he said the country was unable to meet all of its debt payments this year as a result of the damaging, opposition-led strike at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The action halted production in the world's fifth-largest exporter in December and January.
The state-owned oil company supplies about half of government revenue, and Mr Chávez said the country would need to "restructure" its debt. His remarks appear unwittingly to have derailed the finance minister's plans for a euro-denominated debt swap due to be offered later this month.
Oil output in Venezuela has recovered from the strike faster than many analysts expected, and government officials claim production levels are currently at around 3m barrels per day.
On paper, relatively high crude oil prices, due to the US-led war in Iraq, have also boosted export revenues. However, the government is struggling to cope with a cash-flow crunch because it has fired more than 16,000 employees at PDVSA, including its trading department, and it is owed at least $1.5bn in back-export income that it has been unable to collect.
Meanwhile, central bank international reserves have remained steady, at just over $12bn, because foreign currency trading has been suspended since January, and the government agency in charge of dollar sales has only begun to release a trickle of dollars this week.
The dearth of dollars is causing severe problems among many companies in Venezuela, especially manufacturers. General Motors' local car assembly plant stopped production last week because it was unable to import essential parts.
A pending ruling by the Supreme Court which could require the government to lift the ban on foreign currency trading could prompt reserves to decline rapidly, raising the risk of default, economists said.
"After Chávez's comments, bondholders are worried that the willingness to pay may not be there," said José Barrionuevo, director of strategy at Barclays Capital.
Concerns over the possibility of a default were also growing on Tuesday after a central bank source confirmed that in the past few weeks the bank had transferred some of its international reserves to the Bank for International Settlements in Basle. Funds held at the BIS cannot be seized in the event of a foreign debt default.
Also, a 150-page internal analysis report on the repercussions of a foreign debt default is understood to have been prepared for Mr Nóbrega, finance ministry sources say. Mr Nóbrega declined to comment.
Economists say oil prices will have to remain relatively high for Venezuela to avoid a default, and much will depend on the duration of a war in Iraq.
There is a also a risk that output volumes will decline in the weeks ahead because of low maintenance of oil wells.
"The financial situation is manageable but extremely critical," said Tamara Herrera, economist with the consultancy Síntesis Financiera.
<a href=www.sfgate.com>SFGate.com
Tuesday, April 1, 2003
(04-01) 20:17 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --
A court tossed out homicide charges Tuesday against four suspects in shootings that killed 19 people and helped trigger a short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez last year.
Dozens of Chavez supporters celebrated the ruling with fireworks outside the courthouse in the central city of Maracay, 40 miles from Caracas, the state-run Venezolana de Television channel reported.
The suspects, all Chavez supporters, were released. They had pleaded innocent to the charges.
Gunfire broke out April 11, 2002, when a massive opposition march clashed with a pro-government rally in downtown Caracas. The shootings spurred a bloodless military coup that briefly ousted the leftist Chavez.
Loyalists in the military returned Chavez to power two days after the uprising.
Venezuela remains divided over Chavez's continued rule since the mid-April rebellion.
Government opponents accuse the former paratrooper of riding roughshod over democratic institutions and dragging this South American nation of 24 million into chaos with ill-defined economic policies.
Chavez claims Venezuela's opposition, including leading labor and business groups, are leading an "economic coup" with the intention of overthrowing his revolutionary government.
The judges on Tuesday did uphold lesser charges -- of improper firearm use and public intimidation -- against the four.
But defense attorney Amado Molina said they were granted conditional freedom.
<a href=www.falkland-malvinas.com>MercoPress
Venezuela is resuming shipments of unleaded gasoline from the Paraguana refinery complex, with a first U.S.-bound ship currently being loaded
Paraguana general manager Ivan Hernandez said the initial shipment consists of 360,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline, with each barrel holding 159 liters (42 gallons) of gas.
The refinery, one of the world's largest, is located on Venezuela's central coast. Hernandez told the state news agency Venpres that the shipment would leave for the United States on Wednesday aboard the Nico Cuarto tanker.
The shipment will be the first to leave the Paraguana complex since an opposition-led general strike paralyzed the oil sector from Dec. 2 to Feb. 2.
Additional shipments of 250,000 and 300,000 barrels are planned for the coming days, Hernandez said, adding "We are returning to normal export levels." The complex's refineries are operating at optimal conditions and are able to meet the demands of the domestic gasoline market, despite the disruption caused by the 63-day strike, he said. The strike was organized by opposition labor and business groups to force President Hugo Chavez to resign or call early elections.
The opposition blames Chavez, an avowed leftist, and his policies for the country's economic problems.
Entomology April 02, 2003
HUNDREDS of tiny bugs will soon be released across northern Australia in a bid to kill off a nasty weed known as bellyache bush. Bellyache bush, aka Jatropha gossypiifolia, has killed hundreds of cattle, goats and horses which ate the northern pasture weed, the CSIRO said today.
"All parts of the plant are highly toxic and can kill grazing animals that eat it," CSIRO entomologist Tim Heard said.
"It is widespread right across the top of Australia, from Western Australia to north Queensland."
But the CSIRO hopes a new biological weapon - a 15mm bug known as the bellyache bush jewel bug, or Agonosoma trilineatum, will help wipe out the toxic weed.
The bug, found in Venezuela, is expected to feed on the fruit of the bellyache bush, disrupting seed production to slow down its rapid spread.
Northern Territory government weeds branch spokesman Blair Grace said it was the first time a biological control agent had been released to fight the poisonous plant.
"Biological control will never eliminate a weed, but could make it easier to control with other methods like herbicides, hand-pulling or bulldozing," he said.
He said it was safe to introduce the bug in Australia because it only eats bellyache bush.
Bellyache bush was brought to Australia from Central and South America as a garden plant about a century ago.
It is believed by some to help cure bellyaches if taken in small quantities, Dr Heard said.
"It has been used as a ... herbal remedy in many parts of the world for a very long time for actually curing bellyache," Dr Heard said.
"In low doses it's rumoured to have medicinal properties, but in high doses it can kill you."