CARACAS: Venezuela will remove five zeroes from the bolivar currency rather than the three zeroes originally planned, President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday, in an effort to keep up with inflation projected to reach 1 million percent this year.
The OPEC nation’s economy has been steadily collapsing since the 2014 crash of oil prices left it unable to maintain its socialist economic system that for years provided lavish subsidies while enforcing strict price controls.
Annual inflation in June topped 46,000 percent, according to the opposition-run Congress. The IMF said this week it could hit seven digits this year, putting it on par with the crises of Zimbabwe in the 2000s and Germany in the 1920s.
“The monetary reconversion will start on Aug. 20,” Maduro said in a televised broadcast, showing new bills that are to be released next month.
He said the overhaul would tie the bolivar to the recently launched state-backed cryptocurrency called the petro, without offering details.
Cryptocurrency experts have said the petro suffers from a lack of credibility because of a lack of confidence in Maduro’s government and the mismanagement of the country’s existing national currency.
The government has said it is the victim of an “economic war” led by opposition leaders with the help of Washington, which last year levied several rounds of sanctions against Maduro’s administration and a group of top officials.
The country’s high inflation rate has made it nearly impossible to obtain cash.
Venezuela’s minimum wage is now about the equivalent of $1 a month, which has left citizens across the country unable to eat properly or obtain basic medical care — fueling an exodus of Venezuelans seeking to escape the economic crisis.
The government had been prepared to cut three zeroes off the currency in June but postponed the measure at the request of banking industry leaders who said the financial system was not ready for the measure.
Maduro on Wednesday proposed an overhaul to the currency crimes law in order to improve the flow of foreign investments.
Economists routinely identify the exchange controls as a major hindrance to economic growth. The issue will be taken up by the country’s all-powerful Constituent Assembly, Maduro said.
He also said he was transferring a concession bloc of the vast Orinoco heavy oil belt to the central bank, which he said would help shore up the bank’s international reserves.
Venezuela to remove five zeroes from ailing currency
Venezuela to remove five zeroes from ailing currency
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
