Luis Vicente León, president of Datanalisis in Caracas: “The Venezuelan GDP projections for 2024 are positive, even though the official figures for 2023 look oversized and represent the growth of a dwarfed economy. Two variables explain the projection: the relaxation of oil sanctions and the electoral period. The U.S. Treasury’s License 44, which temporarily legalizes oil exports, does not resolve short-term production, infrastructure, capital or labor limitations, so it has limited impacts in terms of production increases. However, it does allow exports at international prices, which practically doubles PDVSA’s income by eliminating discounts and opacity. In addition, a recovery in production of about 250,000 barrels per day is expected, eventually reaching one million barrels per day, which does not require significant CAPEX investments. However, the government will relax its restrictive spending policy to finance its electoral campaign. The uncertainty does not seem to be whether or not…”