Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has declared an economic emergency for the country, just hours before his first state of the union address will be delivered this afternoon. The state of economic emergency is to last for 60 days, according to the government's official gazette released today, in order to "protect the societal rights to education, health, housing, and recreation for all Venezuelans."
Maduro's Minister of the Economy, Luis Salas, stated at press conference earlier this afternoon that, "The National Executive will adopt the measures that it deems appropriate. It can assign extraordinary methods [to address the crisis,] whether or not they are present in existing budget resources," reports the Venezuelan economic publication El Mundo.
The economic emergency will involve making resources available from the 2015 fiscal year, allocating extra resources to health, education, food and housing, implementing processes for the prevention of tax evasion, and giving the National Executive allowances to "address the causes of the current situation," according to TeleSUR.
This authorization could restrict certain constitutional assurances in order to manage the economic situation, except those that relate to the right to life, prohibition of solitary confinement and torture, the right to due process, the right to information, "and other intangible human rights," according to the Venezuelan constitution, explains El Español.
It is expected that Maduro will present a series of economic reforms in more detail to Venezuela's new right-wing National Assembly, dominated by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) party, during today's speech. The Assembly will have eight days to assess and approve Maduro's proposal of the state of emergency, according to ABC News.
The economic emergency comes at a time when Venezuela's inflation has hit 270 percent, making it the highest inflation rate in the world for three consecutive years, according to El Español. The economic problems in Venezuela have been ongoing, connected to the rapid fall of international oil prices. Just last week, for example, Venezuelan oil exports drew $27.90 (USD) per barrel, which is the lowest weekly price since 2004, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In turn, the unfolding revenue collapse has had severe implications for Venezuela's debt obligations - essentially excluding the country from global financial markets. Resulting food shortages have been a major problem as the economic crisis worsens.
