Venezuelan Merchants Label Petro a Scam
- Venezuelan merchants are exchanging their Petro supplies for the native bolivar, which results in huge losses.
- The reason behind it is the fact that they are exchanging Petro for its worth at the moment of purchase, instead of the current prices.
- Many have openly called Petro a scam, claiming that the government's moves — including the re-introduction of 'price police' — are aimed at taking control over the economy.
It has been two years since the Venezuelan government launched its national cryptocurrency, the oil-backed Petro. However, the coin never managed to reach its intended purpose for a variety of reasons.
Venezuela’s goal was to use it as a substitute for its native bolivar, which is heavily devalued due to hyperinflation. But, the country’s citizens found Petro too complicated and difficult to use, the US issued a ban on it, and any attempt by the country’s government to force the citizens to use it has failed so far.
In fact, according to the country’s local media outlet, Tal Cual, Venezuelan merchants have abandoned Petro entirely, claiming that it is a scam. Reports further claim that merchants have attempted to liquidate their Petro holdings, even if the only thing they got in return was a devalued bolivar.
The government is scamming merchants with Petro
Copy link to sectionJosefina Salvatierra, the executive director at Venezuela’s National Council of Commerce and Services — Consecomercio — said that those who are liquidating are doing so to the indicator of the moment when the sale was made. This brings forth additional issues, as bolivar lost 99% of its value in 2019, meaning that the merchants are not getting the amounts according to its current price, but according to the one from a year ago.
In other words, merchants are losing money by abandoning Petro, and they will likely be unable to restock their inventories as a result.
Consecomercio’s former president, Maria Carolina Uzcategui, openly called Petro a scam aimed at the merchants.
The Maduro administration is making things difficult as well, especially with the recent plan to reintroduce the ‘price police,’ which is a team of inspectors who are enforcing a country-wide price control. While the government claims that the move was made in order to curb hyperinflation, critics believe that it is all a part of Maduro’s attempt to take greater control over Venezuela’s economy.
Even so, retailers are ditching Petro, even though the move is damaging them, with the goal of striking a blow to the government’s plans.
