CARACAS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera on
                  Thursday vowed to rebuild confidence in the crumbling economy during the
                  remaining five months of his administration.

                  Awarded fast track powers to push through a battery of reforms before he
                  hands over power in February, Caldera said he would leave the next president
                  a stable and governable country -- despite a slump in oil prices that tipped the
                  economy into recession and left consumers and businesses reeling.

                  Thumping his fist on a lectern, Caldera, 82, told officials gathered in Congress:
                  "We are working hard for the next government ....The fast track measures
                  will help the economy overcome the brutal fall in oil prices."

                  Caldera has made it a mission of honour to leave the economy in a better state
                  than he received it in 1994 when half the banking system failed in a financial
                  crisis.

                  The fast track laws, which Caldera signed along with key ministers on
                  Thursday before his speech, allow the government to set up a special fund to
                  store windfall oil revenues and also issue up to $1.5 billion in bonds to close a
                  fiscal deficit expected to reach five percent of Gross Domestic Product.

                  In a rambling 20-minute speech, broadcast nationally, Caldera talked of the
                  need to maintain social peace and Venezuela's 40-year-old democratic
                  institutions.

                  But he made no mention of two recent body blows to the Venezuelan
                  economy: Wednesday's third failed attempt to privatise the country's
                  money-losing aluminum complex, and the persistent devaluation rumours that
                  rattle the bolivar currency.

                  Caldera's rare public address instead made a number of thinly veiled
                  references to former coup leader Hugo Chavez who comfortably leads polls
                  ahead of the Dec. 6 presidential vote.

                  "My government will end on Feb 2, but not before," Caldera said forcefully.

                  Congress reopens in March after elections, which include independent
                  candidates who threaten to break the traditional two-party system that has
                  dominated Venezuelan politics for four decades.

                  Congressional elections on Nov. 8 are viewed as a first round for the
                  presidential vote a month later.

                  09-03-98

                  Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.