In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro announced that the state-owned oil company PDVSA is switching to the use of a government cryptocurrency called Petro.
Maduro said that in the country will soon have two currencies: “sovereign bolivar” and Petro. They will be put into circulation after a monetary conversion, designed to help the bolivar get rid of five zeros. After this, the national currency of Venezuela will be renamed “sovereign bolivar”.
He also added that the country will have “a new system of paying salaries and determining prices for goods and services linked to Petro.”
“This will mean a significant improvement in employees’ incomes and the appearance of the maximum retail price,” the Venezuelan president said.
The Petro cryptocurrency is based on the Venezuelan oil sands of the Orinoco, which are considered to be the largest oil field on the planet. It is in circulation since April and it can theoretically be paid for goods and services in Venezuela. However, how actively people use it, it is not known.
Recall that in May 2018, inflation in Venezuela exceeded 24 500% on an annualized basis. This was reported by the head of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly Rafael Guzman, as official data on the price increase in Venezuela have not been published for several years.
The Venezuelan government in April-2018 once again raised the minimum wage. Taking into account the funds allocated for the purchase of food products, the minimum guaranteed income of a working citizen was 2.55 million bolivars. At the same time, according to estimates of experts from non-governmental organizations, the cost of the food set for a month for a family of three was 120 million bolivars.
The plight in the country forces many citizens of the Bolivarian Republic to emigrate. Currently, only in neighboring Colombia are more than 800 thousand Venezuelans.
At the same time, President Nicolas Maduro said that Venezuela will never give up. According to Maduro, the country is a victim of “economic harassment”, despite the thorough fulfillment of all its obligations on external payments.
