‘Business as Usual’ – Peace / Safety / Destruction / Economic Collapse
Jesus said the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). The thing about the days of Noah is that even in the midst of terrible apostasy, evil, violence, and rebellion against God, the people went ahead with their normal lives. They planted fields, they harvested crops, they built houses, they got married, and they had children. They went about business as usual, until the very day that Noah entered the ark, and then destruction came and took them all away
1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Revelation 13:16-17 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Business as Usual? Convergence of Economic Signs: Venezuela’s economic decline among most severe globally – IMF
LUIS ALONSO LUGO Associated Press•July 29, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — The cumulative decline of the Venezuelan economy since 2013 will reach 65%, among the deepest five-year contractions around the world over the last half century, the International Monetary Fund said Monday.
Alejandro Werner, director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department, said the Venezuelan decline is historic because it is unprecedented in the hemisphere and also because it is the only one among top global five-year contractions that is unrelated to armed conflicts or natural disasters.
The IMF adjusted its 2019 forecast for the South American country to a contraction of 35% rather than the 25% decline expected back in April due to a sharp fall in the oil production, which has already plunged to its lowest level in seven decades.
Werner said the inflation forecast for 2019 has also been adjusted downward from the 10 million percent expected in April to below 1 million because of a recent increase of the legal reserve ratio imposed on local banks by the Venezuelan Central Bank.
Venezuela economic contraction shows up in the third position globally, only surpassed by Georgia and Libya, which is at the top with an 80% contraction during the period 2010-2015.
Werner said the IMF expects the economy of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole to grow 0.6% in 2019. But if the calculation is done for the rest of the region while excluding Venezuela, the regional average of projected growth is 1.3%.
“This reflects the big challenges the region faces in order to establish a process of sustainable growth,” Werner said in a news conference.
Werner said Venezuela’s prolonged crisis could push the migration from the country up to 5 million people by the end of the year. He said that exodus has meant a slight economic bump for host countries such as Colombia, even after the investment needed to support 1.5 million migrants.
The migration flow “has placed on the Colombian government the need to relax its fiscal goals and increase public spending in order so support this population,” he said. “It generates a positive impact on the economic growth.”
Werner noted that the Central Bank of Chile had cited immigration from Venezuela and other countries as one of several reasons to increase its economic growth estimates.
Werner said the effect can be positive as long as the migrants bring skills demanded by the local labor market, though it also depends on the strength of the public finances in each country.