Carlos Seijas Meneses
Caracas, Oct 3 (EFE).- The increase in the gap between the official price of the dollar and the ‘parallel’ in Venezuela makes resurface a problem that the country had overcome after months of exchange stability: the use of different rateseven in formal businesses, despite the fact that they are obliged to work with the price published by the Central Bank (BCV).
One dollar is exchanged in the parallel market for 44 bolivars, about 7 bolivars above the official rate, at 36.9, the rate that commerce, by orders of the Executive, must use as a reference to calculate payments for goods and services, mostly fixed in the US currency, adopted as a consequence of the hyperinflation that the country experienced for four years, until 2021.
Last August, the Superintendency for the Defense of Socioeconomic Rights (Sundde) activated the BCV’s “National Rate Compliance Verification Plan”, for which it maintains its “supervisory force”, as reported on its Instagram account, where citizens denounce the use of contributions that exceed the official one, which has been around 36 bolivars since January.
One currency, “different prices”
Despite the rule, several stores in a commercial area of Caracas – which do not have the obligatory sign with the rate set by the BCV on display – apply the exchange rate between 37 and 40 bolivars, while informal sellers reach 42, as confirmed by EFE in the sector.
The manager of a shoe store, who asked not to be identified, calculates the dollar at 40 bolivars because, as he explained to EFE, the suppliers charge him for the merchandise at a rate of “43 or 44 bolivars, it depends on how the quote is.” in the parallel market.
“You have to pay the large wholesalers in parallel to give you merchandise,” assured the merchant, who says he calculates the currency at a price that is “in the middle” of the official rate and the highest parallel rate to “be able to sell” because, otherwise, “no one buys from you.”
On the other hand, 40 bolivars “is still a good price,” added the manager of the store, where shoe prices are set in dollars.
However, for Ana Rosa Blanco, a 55-year-old housewife, this “should not” happen and all businesses “have to charge as is” reflected on the issuing body’s page.
«I went to buy and they were charging me at 43 bolivars, others at 40, others charged at 36, at the rate of the (Central) Bank of Venezuela. “It doesn’t seem right to me,” the woman told EFE regarding the use of “different prices” of the currency, not only in “peddlers” (non-regularized sellers), but also in “formal (sector) establishments.”
José, a 70-year-old merchant, told EFE that “there are people who do not like to have” the official price because “it is very low” and “there is a lot of difference” with the parallel.
“That is the reason, but there are people, like us, who abide by what the Government tells us,” said the manager of the store, where, however, they had the exchange rate at 38 bolivars per dollar, that is, something more than one bolivar above the BCV rate.
In secret
Outside the capital, in various regions of the country, there are also businesses that use different rates, with 38 bolivars being one of the most conservative, while others calculate the dollar at 40, as happens in establishments in the state of Trujillo.
In these businesses, as well as in several in Maracaibo, capital of the Zulia state, these parallel rates are not reflected publicly, as is the case with the BCV when it is applied, but are indicated orally when a customer asks. , without leaving a record of the irregularity.
In Maracaibo, various places calculate the North American currency at 42 or 43 bolivars, according to EFE.
The National Council of Commerce and Services (Consecomercio) recently called on consumers to demand “compliance with the regulations” on “currency transactions” and stressed the importance of keeping the BCV indicator “in sight” to “ensure transparency.”
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2024-10-06 01:47:10
