In a year of turbulence on the Latin American stock markets, Venezuela has emerged as the biggest regional loser, with the Caracas stock exchange recording a fall of more than forty-five percent for nineteen-ninety-eight.

Other countries suffering major losses on the stock market were the continent's two biggest economies: Argentina saw an annual drop of almost thirty-seven percent and Brazil's stock exchange fell by thirty-two percent over the past year.

Financial experts say the main cause of the fall was the economic collapse in Asia and Russia, and concerns that the Brazilian currency, the Real, might be devalued.