Once-maligned dollar serves as de facto currency in crisis-hit Venezuela

Caracas – The hyperinflation of Venezuela’s bolivar has forced leftist President Nicolas Maduro’s administration to put aside its longstanding criticism of the United States dollar and reluctantly accept the greenback as the nation’s de facto currency.

Maduro, in fact, admitted late last year that the currency of his country’s most bitter rival offers an escape valve amid devastating US sanctions on the country’s lifeblood oil industry, even telling local television channel Televen “thank God” for dollarization.

The head of state’s embracing of the greenback in November 2019 paved the way for the subsequent dollar pricing of gasoline, a commodity that had been dirt cheap in the crude-rich country but which now is only widely available for those able to pay at the pump in the US currency.

Moar @ http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2494146&CategoryId=10717