FACTBOX – How countries have coped with the oil "curse"

Mexico’s oil industry has funded a significant portion of government spending since the discovery of massive offshore reserves in the 1970s. Oil export revenues pay for nearly 40 percent of government spending and are for the most part spent as they come into federal coffers. The country’s deep economic recession this year has shown the inadequacy of past efforts to save bumper oil revenues. Past economic crises are also evidence that oil provided no protection against financial turmoil.

The heavy tax burden imposed on state oil monopoly Pemex, which often means the corporation posts losses even when oil prices are high, has robbed the oil industry of investment. Crude output has been falling since 2004 as the giant fields have entered their natural phase of decline. Mexico’s reliance on the declining oil industry has prompted Standard & Poors and Fitch Ratings to warn they could cut its bond rating.

Also

Angola
Norway
Venezuela
Nigeria
Iraq

Reuters