As Bloomberg reports, citing government decree, Venezuela is going to introduce a new currency exchange rate for the tourists.
The foreigners will be able to) sell as much as $10,000 of the U.S. dollars. Moreover, upon leaving the country, the visitors will be able to buy back up to 25% of the bolivars they have left. The official BLV/USD exchange rate will be announced later.
In February, Caracas had to devaluate the national currency to 6.3 bolivars per one U.S. dollar. However, the U.S. currency fetches 57 bolivars on the black market. Thus, the national currency lost more than 70% of its value so far this year. In September, inflation was almost 50%. Oil Minister and Economy Vice President Rafael Ramirez said October 18, that Venezuela has no plans to devalue the bolivar. Unofficial data indicates that Caracas may lower the national currency rate after municipal elections in December.
Tight policy measures affecting prices for food and consumer products together with strict exchange controls resulted in the shortage of some products and development of the illegal market. For example, this spring the mass media reported that Venezuela lacked toilet paper.
