Nicolás Maduro announces that he will put up for sale shares of state-owned companies in Venezuela

In an attempt to take advantage of companies hit by the crisis and lack of investment, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Wednesday that they would start offering for sale starting next Monday. part of state-owned companiesincluding oil, telecommunications and gas companies.

“Next Monday, on the Venezuelan stock markets, we’re going sold between 5 and 10 percent of the shares of various public companies for national investment, fundamentally, or internationally, ”the president announced in a speech on state channel VTV.

And I added: “You can be an investor of CANTV (Venezuelan National Telephone Company), of Movilnet (mobile telephony), of the petrochemical industry, of all mixed oil companies, of gas companies, of Guayana companies (mining, forestry, aluminum and services) “.

In this regard, he assured that the proposal will take effect as companies need “capital” for their development. “We need technology, we need new markets and we will move forward. good news for the future of the country’s economy“, he pointed out.

Far from being a surprise, some non-government organizations (NGOs), such as Transparencia Venezuela, have expected since last year that the government has negotiated with private companies to provide state-owned companies.

“The Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro, in a clear separation from the so-called socialism of the 21st century, began to give the helm of state companies to some private”, warned that NGO in December 2021, after identifying 33 cases related to the agri-food, tourism and manufacturing sectors.

However, none of these cases have been confirmed or denied by the government, which is already receiving criticism, due to the fact that some of the state companies were expropriated during the government of the late President Hugo Chávez.

The Venezuelan government, which since Chavez’s mandate implemented price controls, on the foreign exchange market and nationalized and expropriated companies, has begun to relax its measures since 2018 amid the worst point of crisis characterized by widespread shortages, hyperinflation and financial failures.of public services.

But now Maduro is “open to listening to new proposals, ideas and visions to recover Venezuela.”

“I reiterate my call to all Venezuelans, let’s put aside pettiness, it’s time to work together and integrate the first phase of growth into the real economy,” he wrote on his official Twitter account minutes after his speech.

With information from the AFP.

DB