The price of the official dollar in Venezuela, whose price is established by the Central Bank, passed five bolivars this Wednesday, after ten continuous months in which it remained around four bolivars.
At 20:20 GMT, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) published the weighted average of the operations of the change banking institutions and reported that, at the end of the day on Wednesday, the price of the currency in the country is 5.01 bolivars, while the euro is quoted at 5.35.
The dollar has been trading in a range between 4 and 5 bolívares since July 28, when it reached 4.03.
Parallel dollar is offered on the 5 bolivars
However, the price of the parallel market, which governs almost all commercial operations in Venezuela, shows that the dollar has been offered above 5 bolívares since May 11, at 1:00 p.m. GMT, when it went from 4.96 to 5.03.
The price of the official dollar at 5.01 reflects a depreciation of the currency local against the US currency of 19.5% in the last 10 months.
In recent months, the government implemented a strategy to contain inflation, according to experts, which led to the stabilization of the currency.
The strategy has consisted of controlling the demand for dollars, reducing the issue of bolivars, necessary to buy foreign currency, through the reduction of public spending and the restriction of bank credits.
Between 2017 and 2020, Venezuela experienced months in which its currency was devalued by up to 50%, as well as annual inflation rates that have also been falling from six digits to 16.3% accumulated in the first four months of 2022.
Attention????|| The exchange rate published by the BCV is the weighted average of the operations of the banking institutions’ exchange desks. At the close of trading on Wednesday 05-25-2022, the results are:#Exchange market #BCV???????? pic.twitter.com/biVE1hs8Hd
– Central Bank of Venezuela (@BCV_ORG_VE) May 25, 2022