"Venezuela has essentially stopped exporting oil and in its place, started exporting people."
"Venezuela is moving in the direction of Haiti"
"Oil production has plunged almost two-thirds in the past 16 years, turning the country with the world's biggest proven reserves into a mere fringe player in global markets. Venezuelans, meanwhile, are fleeing in droves. An estimated 1.6 million have left since 2015—roughly 5 percent of the population. The United Nations now estimates that are some 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad, while in 2005 there were only 437,000.
"This new export is paying dividends. As the Venezuelan diaspora earns ever greater income, they're sending more to struggling relatives back home. Remittances surged to $1.5 billion in 2017 and will climb a further 60 percent this year to $2.4 billion, according to Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalitica"
"Venezuela is moving in the direction of Haiti"
"Oil production has plunged almost two-thirds in the past 16 years, turning the country with the world's biggest proven reserves into a mere fringe player in global markets. Venezuelans, meanwhile, are fleeing in droves. An estimated 1.6 million have left since 2015—roughly 5 percent of the population. The United Nations now estimates that are some 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad, while in 2005 there were only 437,000.
"This new export is paying dividends. As the Venezuelan diaspora earns ever greater income, they're sending more to struggling relatives back home. Remittances surged to $1.5 billion in 2017 and will climb a further 60 percent this year to $2.4 billion, according to Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalitica"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-02/venezuelan-refugees-send-billions-back-home-helping-the-lucky-survive
Venezuelan Refugees Send Billions Back Home, Helping the Lucky Survive
The transfers, as little as $10 a month, trickle into people's pockets through networks of small businesses and relatives fortunate enough to have a foreign bank account.
Photographer: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez/Bloomberg
Venezuela has essentially stopped exporting oil and in its place, started exporting people.
Oil production has plunged almost two-thirds in the past 16 years, turning the country with the world's biggest proven reserves into a mere fringe player in global markets. Venezuelans, meanwhile, are fleeing in droves. An estimated 1.6 million have left since 2015—roughly 5 percent of the population. The United Nations now estimates that are some 2.3 million Venezuelans living abroad, while in 2005 there were only 437,000.
This new export is paying dividends. As the Venezuelan diaspora earns ever greater income, they're sending more to struggling relatives back home. Remittances surged to $1.5 billion in 2017 and will climb a further 60 percent this year to $2.4 billion, according to Caracas-based consultancy Ecoanalitica.
This is a paltry sum, compared to the riches that a good year of oil exports can generate. And it's just a fraction of what traditional remittance-dependent nations receive. (Tiny El Salvador, for instance, takes in some $5 billion a year.) But in a country where millions have been driven into deep poverty by hyperinflation and economic paralysis, every dollar counts.
Kelly Marcano leaves her home in Petare, a slum in Caracas.
Photographer: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez/Bloomberg
The transfers, as little as $10 a month, evade currency controls and trickle into Venezuelans' pockets through networks of small businesses and relatives lucky enough to possess foreign bank accounts. Ecoanalitica estimates that roughly 2.1 million Venezuelans sent money home last year.
