Venezuela's Maduro eyes economic boost in China visit

AFP  |  Beijing 

Venezuelan Nicolas was expected to arrive in on Thursday to strike deals with his crisis-hit country's biggest creditor.

will be in for a state visit from Thursday to Sunday, according to the official agency.

China's foreign ministry said will treat Maduro to a welcoming ceremony and a banquet.

"is confident that this visit will further enhance political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation between the two countries in various fields," told a regular press conference.

"Recently, the has actively promoted economic and financial reform with a good social response. I think a stable Venezuelan development is in the interest of all parties," he added.

has loaned some $50 billion to OPEC member in the past decade, with repaying debt with shipments. The socialist-led Latin American country still owes $20 billion to

Maduro may return home with a new $5 billion loan and a six-month extension to the grace period to service its debt, according to Venezuelan consultancy Ecoanalitica.

Vice Delcy Rodriguez, who travelled to earlier this week, met with the president of

has massively devalued the national currency as part of a raft of measures intended to halt the economy's free-fall into hyperinflation.

The projects Venezuela's inflation rate will reach 1,000,000 percent by the end of the year.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the country, most of them into neighbouring Latin American countries.

The trip to China is Maduro's first outside the country since he was allegedly targeted by exploding drones at a military parade in August 4. He last visited China in March 2017.

Venezuela's production fell in August to 1,448,000 barrels per day, a drop of 21,000 on the previous month, before according to figures released by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The figure represents the lowest level of crude produced in three decades, excluding a strike that lasted from December 2002 to February 2003.

The volume reported by the government remains the lowest of the last three decades, excluding the fall recorded by a strike of the sector between December 2002 and February 2003.

The government attributed the collapse to poor management of state giant PDVSA, which has been caught up in multiple cases of corruption, and to decreasing investments in infrastructure as a result of falling revenues.

It also blames sanctions by that prevent the oil company from negotiating new debt in the

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, September 13 2018. 17:40 IST