Crisis in Venezuela in the context of 1998 Russian financial crisis


Crisis in Venezuela in the context of 1998 Russian financial crisis

⭐ Core Definition: Crisis in Venezuela

An ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened during the presidency of successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime, and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration. Food shortages and hyperinflation have largely ended, inflation still remains high.

It is the worst economic crisis in Venezuela's history, and the worst facing a country in peacetime since the mid-20th century. The crisis is often considered more severe than the Great Depression in the United States, the 1985–1994 Brazilian economic crisis, or the 2008–2009 hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Writers have compared aspects, such as unemployment and GDP contraction, to that of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the 1992–95 Bosnian War, and those in Russia, Cuba and Albania following the Revolutions of 1989.

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Crisis in Venezuela in the context of Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas

Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art (Spanish: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas or MACC) is a museum of modern art located in the Parque Central Complex in Caracas, Venezuela. It was founded on 30 August 1973 by the journalist and art patron Sofía Ímber, also its director from 1973 to her dismissal in the Chavist cultural revolution of 2001. It opened in 1974 and was the first museum in Venezuela to offer a specialist art library, a formal children's and adults' learning area, a special education department for the blind, and a multimedia arts centre.

Its collection has 5,000 pieces, including works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vasili Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian, Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon. Its director's dismissal, the 2001 theft of Henri Matisse's Odalisque in Red Pantaloons and the Venezuelan Crisis have involved the museum in corruption and neglect as well as leading to criticisms of poor security, rapid changes of directors and the cancellations of catalogues and exhibitions. Entry is free for the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions.

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Crisis in Venezuela in the context of Hyperinflation in Venezuela

Hyperinflation in Venezuela was the currency instability in Venezuela that began in 2016 during the country's ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis. Venezuela began experiencing continuous and uninterrupted inflation in 1983, with double-digit annual inflation rates. Inflation rates became the highest in the world by 2014 under President Nicolás Maduro, and continued to increase in the following years, with inflation exceeding 1,000,000% by 2018. In comparison to previous hyperinflationary episodes, the ongoing hyperinflation crisis is more severe than those of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua, and Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, and that of Zimbabwe in the late-2000s.

In 2014, the annual inflation rate reached 69%, the highest in the world. In 2015, the inflation rate was 181%, again the highest in the world and the highest in the country's history at the time. The rate reached 800% in 2016, over 4,000% in 2017, and about 1,700,000% in 2018, and reaching 2,000,000%, with Venezuela spiraling into hyperinflation. While the Venezuelan government "had essentially stopped" producing official inflation estimates as of early 2018, inflation economist Steve Hanke estimated the rate at that time to be 5,220%. The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) officially estimates that the inflation rate increased to 53,798,500% between 2016 and April 2019. In April 2019, the International Monetary Fund estimated that inflation would reach 10,000,000% by the end of 2019. Several economic controls were lifted by Maduro administration in 2019, which helped to partially tame inflation until May 2020.

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