The Venezuelan situation is a reality that must be seen from different angles and in detail to try to understand mostly what has happened and is happening now. As you know, economic growth and economic development are two similar concepts but not the same.
When talking about economic growth as an increase in domestic goods and services of a country, it must be said that before 2013, Venezuela was showing economic growth as it increased the production and diversification of goods and services produced in the country. This increase is seen in the main entry of money in recent years as is the oil industry. Due to the increase in the price of oil, oil countries like ours were increasing their income from the sale of this product and its derivatives, which is why the 4 determinants of economic growth were present, such as: physical capital as it is they made great investments in the search of the increase of the supply in the market, a great human capital since in spite of not having the best education in the world, it is known that Venezuelan education is good therefore it produces quality professionals, it was making good use of natural resources and technology, so it can be said that the increase in gross domestic product was greater than the population growth of the nation. Investments were made in the education system in the search for increased literacy in the population. But two determinants of economic growth were not fulfilled in the best way as they are: government policies because the way the state adopted to take the reins of the country brought with it divisions in thinking with other countries so foreign investments had an obvious decline, and the other determinant was the failure to encourage savings, and that is that the country spent a lot of income on different things that are irrelevant on this occasion and did not open more potentially important fields for income entry as it could be livestock, agriculture and tourism.
After 2013, with the new political cabinet, international relations became even more complicated, generating a greater discontent in the international community that greatly affected foreign investment in the production processes of the Venezuelan state, along with the taking of possession by the government to many foreign companies that continued with the non-implementation of their production processes. The aforementioned together with a total neglect of the maintenance of the generating plants of the large income that the country enjoyed in previous years, together with the productive monopoly that still remains in these days originated a setback of the only entry of money from abroad as it is the oil industry, bringing with it a setback of economic growth.
When talking about economic development, we must evaluate the economic growth already explained and the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population, in this aspect since the income obtained from the sale of the black gold (petroleum) and its derivatives is not evenly distributed, these needs were not fully met, another present determinant is the saving rate that, instead of being high, was very low, due to the lack of investment in the health area, there is no good sanitary structure. Although in some years not so distant unemployment could be reduced, by not investing in other sources of money inflows, this aspect changed to a great extent, suffering even today, another unfulfilled determinant of economic development is the rate of low population growth, due to the precarious situation of the services that are currently being experienced, there is no good prevention of unwanted pregnancies, which is why at present the rate of population growth has been high. Given these reasons, it can be said that although in recent years Venezuela has had an economic growth due to the wealth of its lands in all senses, the mismanagement of these riches has generated a deficient productive structure which translates into not have an economic development.
The situation in countries close to ours such as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia. Panama and Chile are the opposite, despite not having the natural wealth that Venezuela has, they have managed to cope with what they have and have applied a good productive structure, prioritizing foreign investment, which has led to the construction of many companies that generate employment for a large part of the population, so the goods and services produced in these countries have a sustained growth and reach all social groups, thus generating a good distribution of wealth, health and education, ie , sustainable economic development