Here is our monthly summary of recent economic developments in Venezuela:

 Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro has restructured Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), with the appointment of a new board of directors. This new board of the state oil and natural gas company PDVSA will be headed by mechanical engineer Pedro Rafael Tellechea as president, replacing Asdrúbal Chávez, who held the position since April 2020 and was also Minister of Oil.

 Tellechea has a degree in Military Arts and Sciences and a mechanical engineer specialization in weapons from the Higher Technical School of the Argentine Army. He also has a specialization in public finance at the Santa María University and a master's degree in naval operations from the Graduate School of the Venezuelan Navy. Also, he has served as general manager of the Mixed Methanol Company of the East (Metor S.A.) and as president of the Venezuelan Aluminum Industry C.A. (Venalum).

 The government also published the list of the new executives, who will be in charge of the state company, including Heifred Segovia, as vice president of Finance; Génesis Ron, as vice president of International Trade and Supply, and Juan Díaz, as vice president of National Trade and Supply.

 Likewise, the board of directors will be made up of Erick Pérez, who was appointed vice president of Exploration and Production; Gabriel Oliveros, as vice president of Refining; Ronny Romero, as vice president of International Affairs; Tovar Villalobos, as vice president of Planning and Engineering, and Juan Santana, who will serve as vice president of Gas.

 According to the most recent report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela produced 693,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, despite President Maduro's promise, at the beginning of 2022, that crude oil pumping would reach 2 million bpd at the end of last year.

 Other changes announced by the president on Jan. 6, 2023, was the appointment of Yván Gil, as the new chancellor, replacing Carlos Faría, who had been in charge of the Foreign Ministry since May 2022. Since 2017, Gil holds diplomatic posts in Europe and, in October 2021, he was appointed as a trade representative of Venezuela to the European Union. In addition, he was president of the Agricultural Development Corp. and Minister of Agriculture and Land on two occasions in Maduro's government.

 On the other hand, according to a press release from the Central Bank of Venezuela, the Venezuelan economy grew 17.73 percent between January and September 2022. In this frame of reference, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Venezuela at constant prices, registered punctual growths of 17.45 percent, 23.30 percent and 13.22 percent in the first, second and third quarters of 2022, respectively.

 From the institutional point of view, the public sector experienced, in the January-September 2022 period, a growth of 20.03 percent in value added as a result of increases of 23.33 percent, 27.53 percent and 10.55 percent, respectively, in the first, second and third quarters of the year.

 The private sector, for its part, grew punctually at 15.55 percent for the January-September 2022 period, with a 12.08 percent increase in the first quarter, 18.87 percent in the second and 15.77 percent in the third.

 The oil activity registered a punctual growth of 27.09 percent in the January-September 2022 period, integrating the observed increases of 37.69 percent in the first quarter, 37.55 percent in the second and 8.48 percent in the third.

 While the punctual variation of the non-oil component was 14.49 percent in the January-September 2022 period, with growth of 10.75 percent, 17.93 percent and 14.84 percent, respectively, in the three quarters of 2022.