PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – With the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 17 Caribbean countries face a heightened period of economic uncertainty, Sir Ronald Sanders, a business executive and former Caribbean diplomat, said in an opinion piece published yesterday.
He said these countries have become highly reliant on their oil supplies from Venezuela via PetroCaribe, a part payment-part loan scheme. “Of the $14 billion worth of oil that Venezuela provided under PetroCaribe to the 17 dependent countries up to last year, $5.8 billion constituted long-term financing. Cuba is the principal beneficiary but, in per capita terms, so too are a number of Caricom countries—Jamaica particularly,” he wrote.
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