CARACAS: Venezuela said Wednesday it would allow only importers of high priority goods like food to buy dollars at the official rate, forcing others to pay nearly twice as much.
Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela's vice president for economic affairs, insisted the move was not a devaluation of the national currency, the bolivar, even though it would have that effect for those who need US dollars but are not on the priority list.
"This is not a devaluation. This is a different exchange system," Ramirez said in announcing the move.
Under the new regime Venezuela will only provide dollars at the official rate of 6.3 bolivars to $1 to importers of designated priority goods like food and medical supplies.
Others who need dollars to pay overseas bills will have to buy them at government-run auctions, where $1 costs an average 1of 1.3 bolivars.
Venezuelans seeking dollars for travel, remittances abroad or non-priority imports will have to buy them at auction market, Ramirez said.
"Here the big issue is, do we give dollars to travelers or to bring in food? Do we give dollars to speculators or do we bring in goods that are essential to our industry?" he said.
Venezuela has been plagued with widespread shortages of staples and other goods under its system of strict currency controls.
That in turn has helped fuel inflation, which is running at 56 percent a year.
But critics say corruption has flourished under the system, as those with access to dollars at the official rate sell them in the black market where the rate now hovers at 60 bolivars to the dollar.
Amid pressures for a devaluation, President Nicolas Maduro has vowed to keep the official rate in place.
Ramirez, who is also president of the state-oil company that generates 96 percent of the country's foreign revenues, said that in 2014 the government plans to exchange $42 billion worth of bolivars, $11.4 billion of it through the government-run secondary market.
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