Q1 2026
The economist and researcher explained that in Q1 of this year, "there was accumulated cash from oil sales, held in U.S. controlled government deposit funds, that had not yet been disbursed to the country."
Economist Francisco Rodríguez highlighted that in Q1 2026, Venezuela recorded an "enormous current account surplus of $2.445 billion," according to data released by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), marking the largest surplus the country has seen since 2018.
The professor from the University of Denver added that the banking institution also provided data on the balance of payments that reflect the evolution of the value of oil exports and imports.
In this regard, he explained that "the value of oil exports, unlike their volume," increased by up to 25% in the first three months of the year compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, although this did not lead to improvements in the living conditions of citizens. "It turns out that imports of goods fell by 4% and were in fact lower than in any quarter of last year," he said.
Rodríguez detailed that the country accumulated the highest surplus in eight years instead of investing this money in imports because "the public sector accumulated accounts receivable, meaning promises of payment for its oil."
In his analysis of the official data, the researcher points out that this "likely means that there was accumulated money corresponding to oil sales, held in deposit funds of the Venezuelan government under U.S. control, that had not yet been disbursed to the country."
Around this, add that Venezuela is not reporting a faster economic growth despite having higher revenues from crude oil sales in the first quarter because the U.S. administration "did not transfer all of its increased oil revenue to the Venezuelan government."
Rodríguez emphasizes that there is "very little transparent information" regarding the resources coming from oil sales and how much of this money is transferred to the Venezuelan coffers. "What the data does tell us is that, as long as the U.S. continues to withhold part of the revenues from Venezuelan oil sales, Venezuela's recovery will take time and could be much slower than expected," he explained through his profile on the social media platform "X."
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