Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said he and other government officials should take salary cuts as part of budget reductions in response to the lower price of oil, Reuters reported. The South American member of OPEC derives 96% of its export revenues from oil, so the drop in prices to multiyear lows on the global market has hit hard, exacerbating a national economic decline, foreign currency shortage and scarcity of basic goods. “This is a test for me,” Maduro said in a speech on state TV, reiterating that Venezuela would lobby within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel as well as among non-OPEC producers for an oil price target of $100 per barrel.
