- Delcy Rodríguez announced that the country’s planned budget for 2025 is $22.7 billion.
CARACAS, (venezuelanalysis.com) — Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez is in China on an official visit to “review and strengthen” the cooperation map established last year when the countries elevated their relationship to an “all-weather strategic partnership.”
Upon her arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, Rodríguez stated that the allies nations will revise cooperation agreements in “multiple strategic areas,” including politics, energy, economy, finance and technology.
“We will strengthen our framework for cooperation as well as ties of complementarity and mutual development in different areas to continue solidifying a historical relationship and deep friendship that reached 50 years in 2024,” Rodríguez wrote on social media.
Rodríguez went on to add that China and Venezuela have a “shared vision” regarding a new multipolar world “where the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples of the Global South are respected.” She remarked that the BRICS organization would play a key role in advancing multipolarity.
On Thursday, the Venezuelan vice president met with her Chinese counterpart Han Zheng, with both officials reportedly committing to achieve “greater progress” in bilateral relations.
According to the local press, Han said China is eager to fully implement the “all-weather strategic partnership” reached last year as well as “strengthen practical cooperation.”
For her part, Rodríguez reiterated Venezuela’s respect for the one-China principle and emphasized the need to strengthen multilateral coordination to “oppose unilateral illegal sanctions, safeguard national security and development, and international fairness and justice.”
In recent years, Venezuela and China have deepened their strategic political and economic ties as both governments aim to counteract Western hegemony and unilateral coercive measures. Since 2017, the Caribbean nation has faced severe hardships caused by the US-led economic blockade which has particularly targeted the crucial oil industry.
In September 2023, Presidents Nicolás Maduro and Xi Jinping upgraded the countries’ relations to an “all-weather strategic partnership” and signed 31 agreements to boost collaboration in areas such as oil, scientific development, healthcare, and space exploration.
The new level of bilateral partnership was considered historic with Venezuela being the first Latin American country to enter the “all-weather” category reserved by Beijing for its closest allies. The upgrade reflects China’s growing role as Venezuela’s primary trading partner in Asia, particularly in crude oil purchases.
On the eve of her trip to China, vice president Rodríguez presented the country’s 2025 budget proposal to the National Assembly (AN), estimated at USD $22.7 billion. The figure represents an increase of nearly 11 percent from this year’s $20.5 billion budget and nearly doubles the $11.6 billion allocated in 2023. It still stands at around a fifth of the government’s $118 billion budget for 2015.
Rodríguez attributed the recent sustained increase to “consistent economic progress” since 2021, citing an 8.5 percent GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2024 as measured by Venezuela’s Central Bank. The Caribbean nation is set for a fourth consecutive year of economic improvement, though GDP remains below 30 percent of its high mark in 2014.
“This budget reflects the victorious resilience of the Venezuelan economy amid adversity and economic suffocation that have targeted our workers and production processes,” she told lawmakers on Tuesday. “In these challenging conditions, Venezuela is now one of the fastest-growing countries in Latin America.”
The vice president detailed that 77.6 percent of next year’s budget will be dedicated to social investment, focusing on education, healthcare, security, science and technology, public infrastructure, and housing. The spending plan incorporates input gathered from thousands of popular assemblies held across the country.
Rodríguez also highlighted that the budget includes a special fund for community projects chosen and managed directly by the Venezuelan people through communal circuits, as well as an additional allocation for the Essequibo region.
According to Reuters, tax revenues are expected to contribute $5.25 billion to the budget, financing 28 percent of total spending. Venezuelan authorities have praised tax collection, which has more than doubled year-on-year in 2024. In contrast, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will cover 53 percent of expenditures, amounting to $10.1 billion, down from an estimated $11.9 billion this year. The remainder of the country’s annual financing will come from mining, loans, and debt issuances.
On Thursday, parliament president Jorge Rodríguez announced that the 2025 budget proposal had been approved by the legislature and sent to the Maduro government for its promulgation.
