<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 By: Jose Gregorio Pineda & Jose Gabriel Angarita

VenAmCham's Jose Gregorio Pineda (chief economist) and Jose Gabriel Angarita (economist) write: After more than 110 days of "foreign exchange restriction," the Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (CADIVI) has distributed $8,000 to national industry, out of a total of US$1.2 billion set aside to meet the pent-up demand accumulated since January 21, 2003. This distribution generates no expectation whatsoever of an improvement in foreign exchange rationing.

While this was happening, the national government decreed the Exceptional Economic & Social Development Plan through Supply of Food & Other Products which Complement the Basic Consumption Basket ... the program, published in Official Gazette No. 37689, calls for a $261 million investment to purchase 501,000 tonnes of foods in the next 180 days.

We initially expected the exchange controls to function as a "residual system" for the private sector, with discretionary handling only in favor of the public sector or favored beneficiaries. But our initial expectations have come up short; the facts have turned out to be far more adverse for the private sector and not even this first payout of foreign exchange suffices to overcome the idea that a continuation of this rate of foreign exchange distribution will provoke a drastic contraction of the private sector and foster the State's transformation into the supplier of the goods and services needed for consumption.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 By: Daniel Alejandro Rivas Casanova

Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 16:08:15 +0000 From: Daniel Alejandro Rivas Casanova geodaniel@hotmail.com To: Editor@VHeadline.com Subject: Get the true facts

Dear Editor: Reading your editorial statement: "We seek to shed light on nefarious practices and the corruption which for decades has strangled this South American nation's development and progress" ... it is obvious that you are not aware or you are, but other interests distract you from the fact that during Chavez government the oil barrel has reached historical prices (and not in the lower end!).

In other words, in any other Presidential 5-year term, more money has entered the Venezuelan fiscal system. So where is that money?  Have you seen in Caracas lately?  It is incredible how dirty the city has become, and how the commercial activity has decayed!  Have you been in eastern Venezuela? (Puerto La Cruz, Maturin, Puerto Ordaz) those cities had slowed down their development rate in a way you would not believe!  Not to talk about Maracaibo and Valencia.

So my question: Are you being paid to support lies? ...if this is the case, be aware that your are in complicity with a people that do not think twice before killing innocent people (Plaza Altamira), steal federal funds (FIDE, Plan Bolivar 2000, etc), support terrorism (Colombian guerrillas, please don't be naive!) and worst for you: they hate uncle Sam (just look the background of anyone in the goverment!).

So be a proud American (at least!) if you don't care much about Venezuela, and quit this bunch of lies!

Support Real Democracy and Freedom!

Best wishes, Daniel Alejandro Rivas Casanova geodaniel@hotmail.com

BBC

Mariangel Ruiz: Following in a long tradition of 'Misses'

For years Venezuela has been renowned for its beauty queens - their success a source of national pride.

But this year, for the first time in more than four decades, the country will not be taking part in the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Venezuela's economic and political crisis has, it seems, shattered the dreams of the reigning Miss Venezuela, Mariangel Ruiz, to compete in Panama on 3 June.

The Miss Venezuela organisation on Friday said they could not get the dollars needed to pay her entry fee because of the government's tight currency controls.

These were imposed in January to stop panic buying of dollars and so protect the country's dwindling international reserves.

Miss Venezuela organisers said in a statement on their website that they had tried every means to obtain the money.

"But the serious political and economic crisis Venezuela is going through has posed an insurmountable obstacle for the moment."

Dollar fee

The organisers felt deep sorrow at being obliged to pull out of the pageant, the statement added.

They hoped the country's crisis would soon be over so "once again the intelligence and beauty of Venezuelan women can stand out in the international sphere."

The organisation's president, Osmel Sousa, said they needed $80,000 to send Mariangel Ruiz, a tall 23-year-old brunette, to Miss Universe, the Associated Press news agency reported.

They have the funds in the local currency, the bolivar, but cannot exchange them into dollars.

Miss Ruiz said she was "deeply affected" by the situation, as she was hoping to represent the country's "hopes and expectations" in the competition, Reuters news agency reported.

Venezuela has won more international beauty contests in the past 25 years than any other country.

Friday, May 16, 2003

LONDON (News Tribune-AP) -- With OPEC mulling cuts in summer crude production, an already low level of oil inventories in major importing nations raises a risk of volatile gasoline prices as the peak driving season approaches, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

The U.S.-led war in Iraq interrupted crude output in that country and contributed in April to a decline in world oil production of 1.4 million barrels, or 1.8 percent. Although other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosted their output to prevent a shortage, the IEA argued that some exaggerated their production levels and are making prices more unstable as a result.

"Unless producers continue to meet market needs, precariously tight first-quarter stocks will set the stage for tensions in the summer gasoline and the winter heating oil seasons. Crude and product stocks need time to rebuild," the agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report.

The IEA is the energy watchdog for the world's biggest oil-importing countries. It assesses market conditions but refrains from predicting their effect on prices.

"I think the chances are that gasoline prices will remain quite strong through the summer," said analyst Steve Turner of Commerzbank Securities in London. "I think we can just about avoid a spike if there are no nasty surprises" such as unscheduled refinery shutdowns, he said.

Total inventories of oil and refined products fell sharply, by 1.4 million barrels a day, during the first quarter. By contrast, inventories declined by just 300,000 barrels a day during the same period of 2002, and 100,000 barrels in 2001, the IEA said.

Crude inventories alone grew slightly during the quarter, as OPEC pumped more oil to offset the loss of exports from Nigeria and Venezuela. However, inventories of heating oil and other refined products plunged. The net result was that combined inventories were well below their five-year averages among all major importing countries, the agency said.

This supply pinch developed even before the war on Iraq, which halted Iraqi exports of about 2 million barrels a day, it said.

Peter Gignoux, managing director of the petroleum desk at Salomon Smith Barney, said inventories remain squeezed but attributed this partly to refiners who are putting off crude purchases in anticipation of a further slide in U.S. prices. Many buyers expect U.S. oil to fall to $24 a barrel, he said.

Average U.S. crude prices tumbled by 16 percent in April, and 6 percent in March, the IEA said. June contracts of light, sweet U.S. crude were up 93 cents at $28.28 a barrel in afternoon trading Tuesday in New York.

Members of OPEC, which pumps about one-third of the world's crude, have said they are considering cutting production when they meet next month in Doha, Qatar. The IEA said such a move would worsen price volatility.

The agency noted that no "tidal wave" of crude supplies has developed, despite a surge in OPEC production on the eve of the war and a seasonal decrease in demand in the second quarter. It argued that some OPEC members probably weren't pumping as much oil as they claimed and said this increased market uncertainty.

An industry source speaking on condition of anonymity said Saudi Arabia, the No. 1 crude producer, has already notified customers that it would reduce its crude deliveries in June by 14 percent to 20 percent.

World oil supplies averaged 78.42 million barrels a day in April, down from 79.82 million barrels in March. The collapse in Iraqi output shaved an average 1.27 million barrels off daily production last month. Output from the 10 OPEC members excluding Iraq rose by 167,000 barrels a day, with Venezuela and Kuwait posting the biggest gains, the report said.

The impact that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is having in Asia led the IEA to trim its demand forecast for the year by 90,000 barrels a day. This cut represents almost half of the agency's earlier estimate for demand growth.