The huge wad of cash you now need to buy a few carrots for THREE MILLION Bolivars in Venezuela as the country is gripped by hyperinflation under socialist regime
Several basic food supplies require piles of cash to buy them in the cash-strapped South American nation
Venezuela’s socialist government under Nicolas Maduro has ushered in uncontrolled levels of hyperinflation
Experts fear new measures to increase the minimum wage in the country could put shops out of business
Workers responded by rushing to the stores to stock up on supplies before the measures come in on Monday
By GEORGE MARTIN
DAILYMAIL.COM
19 August 2018
Shocking images show the amount of cash required to buy some basic supplies as Venezuela’s hyperinflation spirals out of control.
The striking pictures show food stores like a 2.4kg chicken next to an enormous pile of 14,600,000 bolivars ($2.20) and a stack of bank notes worth 2,600,000 bolivars ($0.40) next to a single roll of toilet paper.
Venezuela has been thrown into chaos by a socialist government under Nicolas Maduro which has introduced a controversial tranche of fiscal policies.
Unbridled hyperinflation has seen the bolivar devalued to a point where workers need wheelbarrows to carry enough cash for a weekly shop.
Maduro unveiled a major economic reform plan this weekend aimed at halting the hyperinflation crisis and will start issuing new banknotes after slashing five zeroes off the crippled bolivar.
The measures – revealed in a speech to the nation late Friday – include a massive minimum wage hike, the fifth so far this year.
Jittery Venezuelans on Friday rushed to shops and formed long lines in preparation for the monetary overhaul.
Shoppers and economists are now concerned Maduro’s minimum wage increase could close thousands of stores across the country as companies will no longer be able to pay their workers.
Although the wage increase will make it possible for Venezuelans to buy basic supplies, there may not be anywhere open to sell them.
Economists warned that some companies would go under, unable to shoulder the massive increase in monthly minimum wage from 3 million bolivars to 180 million bolivars, or roughly $0.5 to $30. That will likely increase unemployment and further fuel mass emigration that has overwhelmed neighboring South American countries.
As it stands, the monthly minimum wage – devastated by inflation and the aggressive devaluation of the bolivar – is still not enough to buy a kilo of meat.
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