Maduro's economic measures get a D- ; but the objective is elsewhere

Finally, after nearly three years in office, Nicolas Maduro decided (or was it decided for him?) to take some economic measures. Too little, too late. He does not get an F because he dares to increase the price of gas. I suppose that gives him a C for effort, and the rest is F. Before I get into the details it is noteworthy that the measures are announced barely hours after he fired his economic minister (Salas) and failed to put in jail Polar's CEO Mendoza and expropriate the group as radicals wanted. Combine that with the creation of a new monster controlled by the military, CAMIMPEG, and you know that the military are behind the whole thing (but more on that in a future post).

Thus, even if I have other things in my mind these days I need to summarize what happened today to give you guys the real meaning of the whole thing. In no particular order.

Gas price increase. C for effort. F for method. D- for benefits.

Crashing

The free fall of the currency continues in Venezuela. On February 25 the black market value crossed the psychological line at 200. Today on March 5 we have reached 283:

That is a 10 Bs depreciation every day since February 25, 1 dollar a day at the official 6,3 exchange rate which has become a fiction since last year.

There is no way around it: hyperinflation is here. January is reported to be 10%. The government has stopped SIMADI. There is no word from CENCOEX and SICAD. In other words we do not know for sure whether Dollars are still being exchanged (a little bit still do, some particulars on occasion let us know that a small portion of their dollar debt has finally been approved for payment, never more than 10% of their total debt).

Draw your won conclusions. Mine is that the promised financial collapse predicted for April may have already started,

The bicentenial bolivar

On January 16 I wrote that the Bolivar at 175 for a single dollar may sound expensive but if the regime were not to take REAL measures (it has not) within weeks that 175 would be cheap. There it is today, the black market value has crossed the 200 line even though the SIMADI was claimed to be the way in which the regime would kill black market. This one, it seems, is alive and well.  Apparently no one inside the regime seems to understand that no matter what gimmicks they invent the value of a currency depends upon which solid currency it can rest (gold, dollars or euros, same difference). It does not rest on revolutionary "values". (note that even the limited cash exchange value at Cucuta, the one to avoid bank commissions and delays, is at 179 and thus higher than SIMADI!)