The struggle to put Venezuela back on the path to economic health:

The next step, says Annen, is to entice the private sector back to the country in order to boost oil production to its traditional levels.  "The current government may not be willing to slash the budget deficit as this will further erode the little political power they still hold," says Annen. Besides, he says, businesses are unlikely to trust assurances from this government. Any economic improvement almost certainly will require political change as well. As several of the experts I spoke to suggested, those seeking change have one advantage. Conditions in Venezuela are so bad that people will be willing to accept a significant amount of pain to get the economy back on track. More…