A review of the first half of 2007 shows that the domestic economic follows a pattern where banks, trade, building and communications grow faster than 19 percent, whereas manufacturing moves slower, at 8 percent.

This structure, economist Orlando Ochoa said, shows that the country is immersed in a not so healthy cycle, where the oil income fuels service-related sectors, but the industrial sector does not catch up with increasing demand.

By matching the first five months of 2007 with the same term in 2006, industrial production grew 8.04 percent and sales increased 36.68 percent. In this way, rising imports meet a significant portion of the demand.

The economic gear needs more investment to extend facilities and enlarge production. "In terms of the capacity used by the private manufacturing sector, we are almost around 90 percent, that is, there is little left, 10 percent, to face the demand pressure," Minister of Planning Jorge Giordani conceded last Friday.

However, Giordani maintained, "if the private sector fails to invest, some others will come and invest for them."

According to analysts, businesspersons do not invest a lot for fear of the future of private property, price controls and cheap imports.