00:00on the state of the economy was released. The government assures that the crisis facing the
00:05country is the result of the opposition's repeated blockade of foreign loans and deliberate the use
00:11of road blockades and protests. Detail from our correspondent, Freddy Morales.
00:19Following the victory of the right wing in last August's elections, inflation began to fall
00:24dramatically. In May it exceeded 5%, but last September it stood at 0.20%.
00:30The absence of these blockades has allowed us to have a lower or low level of the consumer
00:36price index for the third consecutive month. An official report from the Ministry of Finance
00:46confirmed repeated allegations by the government of the current president that much of the economic
00:51crisis facing the country was deliberately caused.
00:55Each stage of the months and days that the economy has been shut down, has lead to a significant
01:04slowdown in economic growth. The 36-day civil strike has caused us to go from growing at
01:124.5% to growing at 1.3%. The other blockade, we were growing from 3.1 to 1.3, from growing
01:202%. In the last quarter of 2024, we ended up with a negative variation of 2.6. That is the effect that
01:27the road blockades had on economic activity. The blockade was the method used by the opposition to
01:38provoke an economic crisis for electoral purposes. Laws that could have helped to overcome the shortage
01:43of dollars caused by a decrease in natural gas exports were blocked in the Legislative Assembly.
01:49In the Assembly, when we brought the bill to strengthen international reserves, it took more
01:56than 18 months to approve it. More than a year and a half that this regulation was stalled, which, at the time,
02:06could help the economy. Even at the international level, the political opposition was aided in its
02:16efforts to destabilize the economy for electoral purposes. This was aided by the so-called risk
02:22ratings agencies, which increased the country risk to show a deepening of the economic crisis.
02:27But as soon as the right-wing government won, these indices immediately improved.
02:31There has been a key element, sabotage, and everything they did against the government,
02:40but it is no longer the main focus of politics because they have already achieved their goal.
02:49Today is a new political era with a new government, and that is why there is no longer that element of
02:53country risk because those who succeeded in blocking the economy from the old and the right-wing,
02:58starting with the road blockade, and in the Assembly, have achieved their goal. It is done. It is consummated.
03:10The legislative boycott included the freezing of international credits that could have alleviated
03:14the shortage of dollars and the supply of fuel. Right-wing businessman and politician Samuel Doria
03:21Medina called on legislators to approve these loans of almost two billion dollars to alleviate the crisis
03:26and serve the people. The triumph of the right not only drastically reduced inflation, but also forest fires.
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