The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report relating to US sanctions on Venezuela, and the steps taken by US agencies to identify and mitigate potentially adverse humanitarian consequences of those sanctions. The GAO recommends that the Treasury systematically track and analyse compliance inquiries from organisations to its call centre and email account to identify trends and recurring problems on the humanitarian consequences of sanctions. This will help inform future efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of sanctions. The Treasury has concurred with the recommendation.

The report found that US sanctions, particularly on PdVSA, Venezuela’s state-run oil company, likely contributed to the steep decline in the economy from minus 6.2% in 2015, to minus 35% and 25% in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In addition, US sanctions on Venezuela have had a limited impact, if any, on the US oil industry.

Source: European Sanctions