Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced China has granted his government a $5-billion loan to boost oil output in the recession-hit OPEC state.
"We have signed a special program for a $5-billion loan to progressively increase oil production in the coming months," Maduro said on state television Tuesday night in a broadcast from China, where he is on a visit seeking support for Venezuela`s sinking economy.
The two countries will negotiate "joint projects in the areas of reconnecting oil wells and services associated with crude production," the socialist leader said.
China, a major political and economic ally, also agreed to a gold mining deal and a joint development plan through 2025, he added.
Maduro traveled on August 29 to China and Vietnam, saying the trip was aimed at "seeking support in these difficult times."
Maduro`s cash-strapped government had already secured a $5-billion loan from China in April.
Venezuela`s state oil giant, PDVSA, the engine of the economy, saw output fall by four percent last year, to 2.78 million barrels a day.
The slide in global oil prices -- down from around $120 a barrel in June last year to less than $50 now -- has exacerbated the crisis gripping Venezuela`s economy, hit by runaway inflation, shrinking reserves and severe shortages of basic goods.
Venezuela, which has the world`s largest proven oil reserves, has borrowed more than $50 billion from China in an oil-for-loans deal struck by Maduro`s late mentor Hugo Chavez in 2007.
AFP
First Published: Wednesday, September 2, 2015, 21:15