October 14, 2008 3:25PM 

# Lots of Red Ink Looms for Chávez’s Venezuela 

By [Juan Carlos Hidalgo](https://www.cato.org/people/juan-carlos-hidalgo) 

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A study prepared by the Deutsche Bank [estimates](http://english.eluniversal.com/2008/10/14/en_eco_esp_analysts:-venezuela_14A2068487.shtml) that Venezuela needs the price of oil to stay above $97 per barrel in order to pay for government expenditures. Yesterday, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil at Nymex closed at $81.19.

If the troubled global economy keeps pushing the price of oil downwards, Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution will be in serious trouble.

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