Not like we’ll be posting the price of the black market Dollar every time it spikes, but just one week ago it hit the 500 mark. DolarToday’s closing rate for this evening was Bs. 611.88. That’s a hell of a leap. [Or yeah, maybe we’re the jerks who scream the new price of the Dollar whenever it reaches a new mark. According to El Chiguire every office has one.]
Nathan Crooks pointed out on Bloomberg that -for now- the highest denomination Venezuelan bill was worth 16 cents (although I’m sure to have read in the morning that it was 17, and probably by the time you read this it’ll be much less). At its weakest, the Bolivar reached 616 on the Dollar during the day:
The currency weakened to 616 per dollar Thursday, meaning the greenback fetches 100 times more bolivars in the black market than it does at the primary official rate, according to data compiled by foreign-exchange website dolartoday.com.
I suspect this will bring back the “DolarToday method” discussion which, by the way, should be worn out by now. If you take a look at CC’s posts of the past weeks you’ll realize that the shit storm goes beyond what can be speculated in a tabloid.
In the meantime, we can do some speculating of our own. What number will the benchmark reach tomorrow? If the circle is completed and it hits 630, mirroring the official exchange rate of 6,30, will we open a rift to the past and find a laughing Hugo Chavez at the end of an inter-dimensional wormhole? Or will the road lead straight to hell and close at 666?
A wager on the end of times, quite a shameful enterprise.
Caracas Chronicles 
What I found very interesting is that this “jump” was due to the bolivar being worth less pesos (from 5.4 to 4.8) rather than due to fluctuations in the peso/usd rate (which has gotten worse over the year). In fact I tweeted that a bolivar now is worth just five pesos and someone replied that in the old days this was the usual price, just that it was in old bolivars.
As it stands now the largest bill in Venezuela can only buy the second largest coin in Colombia, which can get you say a cup of coffee, a lollipop, a small packet of gum, a small packet of crisps etc.
If you think “whoa, that’s nothing for 100 Bs” you now see why Colombians cross the border to buy stuff in Venezuela.
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Hi, is there a place where we could get the data on the evolution of the price? I don’t think DT has something like that and, well I can’t think of anything. Thanks in advance.
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go to dolartoday.com/indicadores
click on the graph “Dolar Libre en Venezuela” (currently the first graph on my screen) to download an excel file that has the Cucuta rate and the Dolar Implicito (M2 divided by reserves).
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666 has been metaphorically here from some time ago… I’d say when it crossed 666 in the old Bolivares- today’s 666 is Bs. 666,000/$!!
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In the near future Bs. 666,000,000/$??? or 666 Bolivares Super Fuertes
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This is that particular moment when Cristina K reaches to the microphone to bloat about how a more “competitive” exchange rate will boost exports… Hell, I will miss these freaks when they are gone.
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That’s what I think, but then I remember I have to buy food and notebooks ‘y se me pasa’.
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Tranquilo broder, cuando esa vaina llegue a 1000, le aplicamos una Griega a los Chinos.
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Un masaje griego es lo que nos van a pedir los chinos…
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So the minimum wage is now $12 a month? Am I getting the math right?
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Correct:
$6 = Food (only regulated rice and chicken feet)
$1 = Cel phone service
$2 = Women and baby products
$1 = All medicines
$1 = Transportation
$1 = Clothing
$1 = Booze or Drugs of choice
—————————————————————-
Y sobra!
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Housing/rent?
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Housing isn’t a merchandise, it’s supossed to be free, that’s one premise of socialism.
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If true, that’s less than Vietnam and Cuba.
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Surely there is a connection between inflation and an increasingly debased currency, but how exactly does it work ?? considering that local production is at the end of its thether so most things have to be imported !!
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New Hegemon Corp talking point:
“I don’t understand the hype about the USD reaching 600+. When Chavez came to power, it was 573.”
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That’s just mean.
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As i said weeks ago to Nagel, he should do a post comparing prices and wages between Chile and Venezuela next week when both currencies match at their rate against the dollar at 640ish.
Starting with the minimum wage: 250000 CLP vs 7500 something VEF.
Apalling stuff.
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