Economy of Venezuela Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economy of Venezuela - Essay Example Venezuela is situated in the Northern Hemisphere, to the North of the South American plate, very close to the Equator. It shares borders with Colombia to the West, Brazil to the South, Guyana to the East and the Caribbean Sea to the North. Venezuela has 2,800 km of coast line and a number of islands can be observed off its coast: Barbados, Aruba, Curaà §ao, Bonaire, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Leeward Antilles. Venezuela shows a great diversity of landscapes: the Andes stretch towards the northwest of the country, where its highest peak Pico Bolà ­var (4,979 m) is located; the middle part of the country, which stretches from the Orinoco river to Colombia, is flat; and to the south, the Guiana Highlands are located in the fringes of the Amazon Basin. It is in this latter area where the highest waterfall in the world, the Angel Falls, is situated. The USA, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil are the main trade partners of Venezuela. The economy of the country is dominated by the petroleum sector, which accounts for approximately one third of the gross domestic product (GDP). The oil trade, controlled by the state-owned company Petrà ³leos de Venezuela (PDVSA), represents more than a half of the government revenues and 80% of the country’s exports. Other major exports are aluminum, steel and agricultural produce. Within the agricultural sector, which the country is highly dependent on, the main products are coffee and cocoa. The growth in the production of these two crops is dictated by the export market. While Venezuela had been world leading in terms of coffee production, the petroleum market of the 1960s and 1970s converted the country into the richest of South America and the coffee trade was relegated to a secondary position.