Venezuela - Mineral rents (% of GDP)

Mineral rents (% of GDP) in Venezuela was 0.105 as of 2014. Its highest value over the past 44 years was 0.963 in 2007, while its lowest value was 0.068 in 1999.

Definition: Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1970 0.593
1971 0.502
1972 0.389
1973 0.335
1974 0.368
1975 0.491
1976 0.512
1977 0.343
1978 0.233
1979 0.238
1980 0.273
1981 0.233
1982 0.224
1983 0.158
1984 0.209
1985 0.233
1986 0.215
1987 0.251
1988 0.190
1989 0.354
1990 0.455
1991 0.452
1992 0.333
1993 0.244
1994 0.289
1995 0.159
1996 0.281
1997 0.175
1998 0.176
1999 0.068
2000 0.079
2001 0.085
2002 0.148
2003 0.262
2004 0.250
2005 0.690
2006 0.729
2007 0.963
2008 0.771
2009 0.222
2010 0.405
2011 0.680
2012 0.280
2013 0.236
2014 0.105

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP