The economy of Venezuela is largely based on the petroleum sector and manufacturing. Revenue from petroleum exports accounts for about 18% of the country's GDP and roughly 95% of total exports. Venezuela is the fifth largest member of OPEC by oil production. From the 1950s to the early 1980s the Venezuelan economy experienced a steady growth that attracted many immigrants. During the collapse of oil prices in the 1980s the economy contracted. Venezuela enjoyed the highest standard of living on Latin America. With high oil prices and rising government expenditures, Venezuela's economy grew by 9% in 2007 but is expected to have shrunk by 2.9% in 2009 and further in 2010. Venezuela has one of the highest inflation rates in the world averaging 29.1% in 2010, according to the CIA world fact book. According to Central Bank of Venezuela, the government received from 1998 to 2008 around 325 billion USD through oil production and export, and according to the International Energy Agency, to June 2010 has production of 2.2 million of barrels per day, 800,000 of which go to the United States of America.
In January 2010, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced a fixed dual exchange rate system for the bolivar. The system offers a 2.6 bolivar per USD rate for imports of essential items such as food, medicine, and industrial machinery, and a 4.3 bolivar per USD rate for imports of other products, including cars and telephones. CADIVI, the government body which administers currency exchange, will continue as the only administrator of the foreign currencies and executor of this devaluation. Currently Venezuela imports almost all of its clothing, cars, and electronic items, while importing roughly two-thirds of its food needs.
A 2010 International Monetary Fund (IMF) study qualified as "delayed and weak" the economic recovery of Venezuela in comparison with other countries of the region that had emerged from the world economic crisis "comparatively well" and were now recovering to a "strong rhythm". According to figures from the Venezuelan Central Bank, the economy showed signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2011 when GDP rose between 3% and 4%.
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