Currencies
Venezuela Moves to Shore Up the Bolivar as Election Approaches
- Government ramps up dollar supply in the exchange market
- Spread between official and parallel rate has widened
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Venezuela’s government is doubling down on efforts to prevent the bolivar from weakening and causing a spike in inflation ahead of presidential elections this year.
President Nicolás Maduro’s administration pumped nearly $140 million into the foreign currency market this week, almost twice as much as the week before, in two separate sales of US dollars, according to estimates by Caracas-based consulting firm Síntesis Financiera. The operations came after the value of the bolivar weakened on the black market — with the spread between the official and parallel rates hitting the widest level since January 2023.