The last few years in Venezuela, the largest economic crisis in the country's history continues. In 2014, the official exchange rate of the national currency is 6.3 bolivars (the so-called this currency) for the US dollar; while in the black market, the dollar was sold for 100 bolivars. Now, with the official rate of 25 thousand bolivars per dollar, the real rate exceeds 200 thousand bolivars.
Official statistics on inflation of the Venezuelan authorities stopped publishing two years ago, but according to the opposition, in 2017 prices in the country grew by more than two thousand percent; in 2018, inflation, according to the forecasts of the International Monetary Fund, will reach 13 thousand percent. Venezuela lacks food and medicine, and 80% of the country's inhabitants are below the poverty line.
According to economists, the crisis in Venezuela broke out due to the authorities' long-term control of the bolivar price and prices, but President Nicolas Maduro accuses of the "economic war" allegedly the Venezuelan opposition supposedly unleashed against him and the "financial blockade" caused by US sanctions.
With the help of Petro, Venezuelan authorities want to improve the economy
The national currency of Venezuela is built on a block-platform. It can be used for payments inside the country and exchanged for other crypto-currencies, it is said on the official Petro website. To use the crypto currency, you need to create an electronic wallet; it will generate a unique email address with which you can conduct transactions.
In total, Venezuela has produced 100 million Petro, but only 82 million will go on sale - the rest will be kept by the Venezuelan government. About 38 million Petro authorities want to sell to large investors in the pre-sale stage, which will last until March 19. The head of Venezuela's crypto-currency management, Carlos Vargas, that investors from Qatar, Turkey, the USA and other countries showed interest in Petro. On March 20, another 44 million Petro are sent to the open sale for all comers.
The authorities promised that the national currency will be provided by Venezuela's oil, gas and diamond reserves (although Petro can not be exchanged for oil or diamonds), and its value will be tied to the price of barrels of oil and amount to $ 60 per token. Thus, for 100 million tokens, they expected to gain $ 6 billion. But because of fears that the price of Petro is too high, it was decided to sell most of the tokens at a discount; according to some sources, they can reach 60%.
Madurodny, that the first day of pre-sale tokens brought 735 million dollars, but you can not check his words. To understand how successful the venture of the Venezuelan government was, it will be possible only after the end of the initial placement of Petro.
Experts do not trust the crypto currency, it controls the government. Especially the government of Venezuela
Unlike Maduro, economists do not show enthusiasm for Peter. They draw attention to the fact that the main advantage of crypto-currency - decentralization - in this case does not work. "[Investors] will have to trust a very corrupt [issuer] who buried the economy of his country," said Martin Chorzempa, a researcher at the Washington Institute of International Economics, Bloomberg. American economist, Johns Hopkins University professor Steve Hanke said in short: "Anyone who spends money on such an obvious scam is a fool."
In Venezuela itself, not all support the idea with Petro. The Venezuelan parliament, the controlled opposition, considers crypto currency to be an illegal way to lay the country's oil reserves. "Maduro behaves like a clown. His idea can not be trusted, "- Reuters economist and deputy Angel Alvarado. Parliamentarians have already warned that if Maduro loses presidential elections scheduled for April, Petro will be declared invalid. True, it is not known whether the parliament will have enough of these powers: from the summer of 2017 all legislative activity in the country was assumed by the loyal Maduro constituent assembly.
