Half of petrodollars are deposited in parallel funds

[naaman fletcher]

In its latest report about Venezuela, British investment firm Barclays Capital examined the management of the country's petrodollars by the Venezuelan government. Barclays found that more than half of the foreign currency is placed in quasi-fiscal funds, that is, a series of government financial institutions such as the National Development Fund (Fonden), which is not included in the official budget approved by the National Assembly and where money is managed at government's discretion.

According to Barclays, in 2010, state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) transferred USD 33.2 billion to the Executive Office. However, official data show that only USD 14.1 billion was delivered to the Central Government, where funds are managed under the official budget guidelines. This means that "less than half of the money that Pdvsa reported as tax contribution" was assigned to the Central Government.

The British investment firm added that most of the remaining money, which represents 57 percent of the petrodollars transferred to the Executive Office, was placed in "quasi-fiscal funds," where, according to Barclays, the government will continue to deposit most of the oil windfall, in order to keep parallel expenses running ahead of 2012 presidential election.

The British investment bank owned by Barclays Bank PLC did not overlooked the fact that by transferring such a huge amount of money to funds not regulated by budget guidelines, the Central Government has diminished the funds that must be transferred to governorships.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/03/16/half-of-petrodollars-are-deposited-in-parallel-funds.shtml

So another words Chavez takes half of the government's main source of revenue and spends it however he wants, outside of the purview of the national assembly. Imagine if W had done something similar. This is not democracy.

[joshcryer]

1. If it's within the law they have every right to take money from the people to get reelected.

And no doubt they'll find away to make it legal just as the bankers in the housing crisis made it legal to effectively cause the Great Recession. If you legalize crime, there's no justice, and that's why those same bankers and brokers are free to this day, even after acquiring for themselves tens of millions of dollars.

[dipsydoodle]

2. The petrodollar recycling program stinks anyway.

Its what allow the US to print money unabated. Its always been just a huge fucking scam.

Given the choice I doubt that many OPEC countries would use them and roll on the day when switch to using Euros instead.