SEZs as the gateway

Non-oil GDP advances 13.9% while seven Special Economic Zones promise unprecedented tax incentives. Venezuela exports coffee, seaweed, fish, and cement. This document evaluates where the real opportunities lie in the productive sector and where the traps are.

Venezuela is experiencing double-digit growth in the non-oil sector, driven by the imperative to survive beyond crude. Special Economic Zones offer unprecedented tax incentives: 100% reimbursement of income tax in the first six years and a 50% reduction in port costs. The opportunity is not in the Venezuelan domestic market—it lies in using Venezuela as a manufacturing and processing platform with radically low labor costs and preferential access to Caribbean, Central American, and Colombian markets.