People are starting to put 2 and 2 together. This Reuters report finds that 40 major U.S. companies have big-time exposure to the Venezuelan shitshow, in the form of at least $11 billion dollars worth of paper profits in bolivars that are going to vanish in a puff of logic the second the Bs.6.30:$1 fiction –…
An obscure document was published yesterday by Venezuela’s Central Bank (BCV), allowing PDVSA to sell the dollars it makes via oil exports to the BCV for deposit into an undeclared, secret fund at a more comfortable rate. Up until now, the rate that PDVSA got for its hard-earned dollars was the cheapest of the four…
Last night, Nicolás Maduro announced that all purchases at every supermarket, convenience store, and mom-and-pop abasto would have to be verified through a fingerprint scanner in order to prevent people from purchasing too much – an electronic rationing card. The cadification of the Venezuelan economy is complete. Listen, about ten years ago, some distant relatives from Venezuela…
Today, International Air Travel was “switched to the SICAD II rate” – a wonderfully euphemistic way of saying the bolivar was aggressively devalued in the international air travel sector. In for-dummies terms, the cost of airline tickets for bolivar holders just went up about five-fold. And, just like that, one of the most cherished chavista…
As you may remember, I (Anabella) decided to bid on Sicad II the same day that I handed in my Cadivi folders. The trámite was due to my need to go to Bogotá for my sister’s wedding. The second I put a foot in Colombia, I had the urge to register some of the anecdotes of what…
Confused about SICAD II? Wondering whether the new currency exchange system really is a legal, market-based alternative to the black-market, or whether it just plays one on TV? Don’t worry, you’re not the alone: Nicolás Maduro himself seems to conflicted on the question to the point of schizophrenia. In his New York Times OpEd, he describes SICAD II as…
Did you hear? The government is going to liberalize the dollar-bolivar market! It’s huge news! On paper, the Convenio Cambiario #27 setting up what’s known locally as SICAD2 – a legal, market-driven alternative to exchange controls – looks like the most significant economic reform in 15 years. What’s more, it looks like the first pro-market reform we’ve…
Caracas Chronicles 