🛢💵 US pockets control of $12 billion of Venezuela’s resource revenues - report The US government received more than $12 billion in revenue from Venezuela's natural resource exports in the first nine months of this year, according to a confidential KPMG report reviewed by the NYT. Crude oil accounted for the vast majority of the funds sent to the account, the report shows. Much smaller deposits came from the sale of minerals and fertilizer, including about $100 million paid for Venezuelan gold. 👉 Most of the money was sent back to Venezuela soon after it arrived, but the report does not say whether it stayed in the country or who the final recipients were. At the same time, the KPMG report shows that US officials retained the final say over when funds are released and who receives money from the sale of natural resources — most likely a large Venezuelan business, while smaller companies were left without access to the hard currency needed for investment. The inflow has done little to ease conditions for most Venezuelans. Prices are expected to rise nearly 300 percent this year, and annual inflation is not expected to fall into double digits until at least 2028, analysts say. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime