Archive for August 21st, 2005  Recent Venezuelan factoids
August 21, 2005  –GDP in Venezuela was up 11.2% in the second
quarter of 2005 thanks to heavy spending by the Government,
However, oil GDP was barely up 1.5% in the quarter, despite the
fact that it is measured versus the same quarter a year ago,
when the average price of oil averaged just below $40 a barrel.
–The number of Deputies to be elected to the National Assembly
in December is determined on the basis of projections of
population by the National Institute ofr Statistics, rather than
actual census numbers. Curiously, Miranda and Carabobo states
both lost a Deputy. Theses two states are among the top three in
which the opposition has strength (The other one is Zulia). This
is teh first time in decades that either state grows slower than
the country, execpt the other times it was a census, these time
it is projections.  –Since 1998, when Chavez became President or
later, infant mortality is up 16%, death by malnutrition is up
40%, malaria is up