In a statement, the country's central bank said that the Venezuelan economic system fell 3.3% during the last year (2009) amid the worldwide slump and a fall in oil revenues.

In December 2009, Nelson Merentes, president of the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV), stated that preliminary figures showed that Andean nation's GDP slumped 2.9% in 2009.

In the statement issued Tuesday, the BCV stated that Venezuela's vital petroleum division dropped 7.2% during the same year, thanks largely to lower production by the world's fifth-leading oil exporter.

Venezuela slashed output to go along with quotas set by the Organization of Oil-Exporting Countries, the BCV said.

As per data from nationalized Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the country's oil fabrication averaged around 3 million barrels daily in 2009.

However, declinations were not limited to the oil segment, as transportation services declined 16.9%, retail fell 13.9%, manufacturing was off 6.9% and mining slumped 4.8%.

On the upside, the communications segment grew 10.5% and utilities witnessed a growth of 5.5%.

President Hugo Chavez's leftist administration expects the Venezuelan financial system will increase by a "modest" 0.5% in the current fiscal.

Venezuela's financial system, which increased by 17.9% in the year 2004 as it rebounded from an opposition-led general strike the year before, enjoyed five successive of expansion through 2008. (With Input from Agencies)