More oil than Saudi, yet Venezuela is struggling for survival:Once the world’s fourth richest country, it lost 80% of its GDP due to mismanagement

This is the story of a country that has more oil than Saudi Arabia, but in the last decade, it lost 80% of its GDP. Once this country stood amongst the richest countries of the world, but this nation mismanaged its wealth to such an extent that today its people are leaving the country. The story is about Venezuela, which was attacked by the US on January 3, and President Nicolas Maduro was arrested. The impact of this turmoil happening thousands of kilometers away in South America could also affect the common man in India. READ MORE | Maduro drove buses, followed Sathya Sai Baba In this report, we will learn the inside story of Venezuela’s ruin and its impact on India… The 1950s: When Venezuela’s fortune was shining In the 1950s, when half the world was recovering from the devastation of World War II, Venezuela’s fortune was changed by the black gold, i.e., oil, coming out from under the ground. By 1952, Venezuela had become the fourth richest country in the world. Luxury cars ran on the streets of the capital, Caracas, at that time, and skyscrapers stood tall. By the 1960s, Venezuela was no longer just an oil-selling country. At Venezuela’s own initiative, countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran joined hands and laid the foundation of ‘OPEC’. In the 1970s, when the entire world faced an oil crisis, and prices skyrocketed, dollars started raining in Venezuelan homes. Stories from that era are still famous… Beginning of Ruin: Economy Drowned Due to 3 Main Reasons This is the biggest collapse of a country’s economy in history without any war. In the last decade, this country lost everything it had earned in 70 years. READ MORE | How US captured Venezuela’s President along with his wife​​​​​​​ Current Situation: 80% GDP wiped out, inflation skyrocketing By 2018, the inflation rate here had crossed 1,30,000%. People there were forced to carry a bag full of notes even to buy a dozen eggs. Notes were not counted; instead, goods were placed on one pan of the scale and bundles of notes on the other. The country that ruled the world by extracting 3.5 million barrels of oil daily in the late 1990s has today shrunk to barely 800,000 to 1.1 million barrels by early 2026. The state oil company became scrap due to lack of maintenance. Petrol is being imported from abroad. Venezuela has lost 80% of its GDP. That is, if the country’s economy was 100 rupees in 2012, today it is only 20 rupees. The most terrifying face of this devastation emerged as the inflation there, which in economic terms is called ‘hyperinflation’. Today’s Crisis: Can America Change Fate? The Trump administration claims that after this military operation, American oil companies will invest billions of dollars in Venezuela and fix its broken infrastructure. However, whether change will come or not will depend on the new government formed there. If a stable, US-backed system comes into power there, the strict economic sanctions imposed for years will be lifted, and Venezuelan oil will once again enter the global market in large quantities. This will not only bring their economy back on track but also allow countries like India to get cheaper crude oil. Impact on India: Cheaper crude oil may be available Venezuela is about 15,000 km away from India, but the change in power there could be beneficial for India… 1. Petrol-Diesel: Hope for ‘discount’ like Russia India imports 85% of its oil needs. Venezuela has the world’s largest reserves, but due to US sanctions, India was unable to buy oil from there. 2. Reliance and ONGC also hope for benefits India’s Reliance Industries has a refinery that is considered the best in the world for refining Venezuela’s ‘heavy and viscous’ oil. Due to sanctions, Reliance had to stop taking oil from Venezuela. Now, Reliance and the government company ONGC (which has invested crores in Venezuelan oil wells) hope for their stalled money and business to resume.