Chinese firms do brisk business in Venezuela despite idle factories

Five years after Chinese home appliance maker Haier agreed to build a $912 million factory in Venezuela, its washing machines and refrigerators are almost the only ones available in the country's department stores. Those appliances, however, are not made in Venezuela.  They are instead imported from Haier factories in China and paid for through an oil-for-loans deal dating from 2007 under which China lends cash and is repaid in crude and fuel. The cost of leaving Haier's facility idle is primarily borne by Venezuela's socialist government, because its construction was bankrolled with $800 million borrowed from China. More…