By Jurjen van de Pol and Ben Sills
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — European producer prices declined more than economists expected in December on lower oil prices, adding to arguments that the region’s central bank should reduce interest rates more to combat the deepening recession.
Factory-gate prices in the euro region fell 1.3 percent from the previous month [...]

By Matthew Walter
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he won’t adjust the oil-exporting country’s pegged exchange rate amid a plunge in prices for crude. Instead, seeking to maintain his popularity, he may devalue the currency by sleight of hand.
The government is already cutting its sales of dollars at the rate it [...]

By Li Yanping and Chia-Peck Wong
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — China, the biggest contributor to world growth, unveiled a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) plan to sustain its economy, spurring gains in stocks, metals and oil.
China’s cabinet pledged “fast and heavy-handed investment” in housing and infrastructure through 2010 and a “relatively loose” monetary policy, according to [...]

By Matthew Walter and Steven Bodzin
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — The same tumbling oil prices that led OPEC to slash output last week threaten to send Venezuela’s economy into a tailspin, and put an end to President Hugo Chavez’s ambitions to expand his socialist revolution at home and abroad.
To cope with plummeting oil revenue, the [...]

TEHRAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Iran is being hurt by the financial crisis because of falling oil prices and a world downturn that will damage non-oil exports, an official said on Sunday, even though Iran’s economy was relatively isolated.
Iranian officials are voicing more concern about the impact of the international financial turmoil after initially brushing [...]

There have been three clear reminders on the suicidal nature of Nigeria’s mono-cultural economy. The most recent is the threat to the 2009 budget by the sudden decline of crude oil prices. With the precipitous decline of crude oil prices from a peak of $147 per barrel in the second quarter of the year [...]

As the Price of Crude Plunges, Venezuela Is Poised to Face a Lot of Pain
BOGOTA, Colombia — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has delighted in the economic meltdown in the United States, mocking the Bush administration for its bailout plan and predicting the end of American economic dominance.
“The U.S. model of capitalism is collapsing,” Chávez, a [...]

By Matthew Walter
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) — President Hugo Chavez has figured out how to use Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to increase his regional influence while diminishing U.S. clout: He all but gives it away.
The self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary is allowing impoverished U.S. allies such as Honduras and the Dominican Republic to buy discounted oil with [...]