OPEC delegates reject Venezuela's call for emergency meeting

Another call from Venezuela on Wednesday for the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries to hold an emergency meeting fell on deaf ears.

Following the petition, four delegates from OPEC’s member countries swiftly said a meeting was unlikely to take place, Reuters reported.

On 15 January, the government in Caracas led by the socialist Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day ‘economic emergency’ and issued a decree giving him expanded powers.

That came quick on the heels of figures from the country’s central bank – oft-criticised for manipulating official statistics – showing that the country’s gross domestic product shrank at a pace of 4.5% over the first nine months of 2015.

In parallel, the population was being forced to contend with an inflation shock, as consumer prices shot higher by 141.5% over the same time horizon - the highest rate of inflation on the planet.

"Venezuela is suffering a new generation economic war promoted by web pages which fix the bolivar-dollar relation without any criteria or economic substance," Venezuela’s central bank said on Friday, in reference to the ‘Dolar Today’ website.

The South American country, once of the continent’s wealthiest, derives approximately 96% of its government revenues from oil exports.