A Chronicle of a Latin American Country Financial Crash: The Case of Venezuela

eventually took half of the banking industry down, created a wave of bankruptcies of enterprises, distorted public finances (as government assistance to ailing banks mounted), and generated a balance of payments crisis. This paper details the events that precipitated Venezuela’s financial crisis and examines how the problems took shape The paper outlines the factors that cause and precipitate a financial collapse. These are summarized in three broad categories, namely: the macroeconomic context, the institutional setting, and policy orientation. The Venezuelan experience demonstrates that the so-presumed coherence between orthodox reforms and financial liberalization should not be exaggerated. If the reforms itself generate transitory but severe macroeconomic instability and are implemented without taking care of a fragile institutional setting and an already dangerous trend in banking operations, the results can be counter-productive