Jan 15, 2026
3 min read
Although the effort of the US Donald Trump will include American infection of Venezuelans in the problem of the Bolivar, a publishing pubises.
As U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to attract U.S. investment in Venezuela's oil infrastructure face obstacles, Venezuelans are struggling daily with the reality of Bolivar, whose instability reveals the difficulties of daily living and the challenges that await interim President Delca Rodriguez.
In the days following the capture of Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, in a US military operation, the bolivar quickly lost ground against the US dollar until its decline stabilized a week later.This Tuesday, the official rate of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) was about 338 bolivars to the US dollar.At the same time, the equivalent dollar was specialized higher than the official rate, which resulted in a price gap of about 66% between the official rate and the equivalent.
Many citizens of the South American country, whose currency has lost more than 80% of its value against the dollar (at the official exchange rate) by the end of 2025, have been forced to rely on the US dollar or carry large amounts of bolivars for essential purchases.
Ana Calderon told the Associated Press a few days ago, while at a market in Caracas, that life is getting more expensive every day and the only thing she wants is to be able to buy the basic ingredients to make soup.
“Food is incredibly expensive,” said a woman who works in maintenance and has noticed prices rising quickly.For example, the celery she uses in her soup sells for double what it cost just a few weeks ago, and a kilo of meat sells for more than $10, or 25 times the country's monthly minimum wage.“Everything is very expensive,” Calderon insists.
The current price in Venezuela, a country rich in oil but with poor infrastructure, is more than three digits and the International Monetary Fund predicts that it will reach its peak in 2026, similar to the period of six-digit hyperinflation that affected the country between 2016 and 2019 and causedlack of food and medicine.The Central Bank has not published price data since October 2024, when the exchange rate between the official dollar and the dollar began to widen.
In addition, amid the rapid devaluation of the currency, the minimum wage has been set at 130 bolivars per month for almost four years and is equal to only 40 cents on the dollar according to the official exchange rate, insufficient to meet basic needs, leaving millions of Venezuelans in a state of poverty and economic impoverishment.
"Forty cents a month in the richest country of Latin America with major oil reserves in the world: a terrible conflict that has worsened in recent years and months because the economic crisis has been mixed with a political crisis," José Manuel Puente, Venezuelan economist, professor at the Institute of Public Policy and Studies of the University of IE-Madrid told CNN.
Chronic devaluation deepens inequality
Economic realities in Venezuela vary from city to city and street to street, making the shopping experience very uneven. In Caracas, supermarkets don't reflect the widespread shortages of a decade ago.And in the past few weeksProducts imported from countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and the United States.They can still be found in supermarkets, however, there are many more within the reach of most people.
Some prices are still listed in bolivars, but more and more products are listed in dollars, except for the "REF" symbol used to indicate that the reference price is in a foreign currency.
For the Chilean economy Renato Campos, CEO of GHTrading, the continued depreciation of the bolivar reduces the purchasing power of families and widens the gap between those who have access to foreign currency and those who only have bolivars.
"Every jump that the dollar introduces means less purchasing power for each household or each family. And therefore it opens a bigger gap in information, and also opens a difference in social inequality in terms of information, between those who have access to the currency and those who don't," he notes.
Differences in exchange rates also affect businesses, Puente added.He explains that this, along with devaluation, which is closely linked to inflation, increases poverty among Venezuelans.
"This gap, created by the political and economic crisis, and above all by the economic policies that the Central Bank does not fulfill its role properly, is another terrible distortion and impoverishment of all the people of Venezuela," he said.
Economist Asdrúbal Oliveros previously explained to CNN that companies must set prices at the official exchange rate, based on legal mandates, even though the actual costs are set with the parallel dollar.This, says Puente, leads to distortions in the cost structure of businesses and in the marketing of products.
Without trust, currency would still be a "risk thermometer".
Trump's efforts to attract U.S. investment to Venezuela have run into obstacles.On Friday, the president and his top advisers met at the White House with oil industry executives who expressed deep skepticism of the administration's plan to ensure long-term stability.
Oil companies stressed that while Rodriguez would facilitate cooperation, the lack of security guarantees and clear legal frameworks make investment difficult.
IESA's Puente says greater foreign participation in the oil industry could partially alleviate the situation and contribute to the stabilization of the exchange rate.But according to the Venezuelan economist, recovery depends not only on oil but also on the restoration of democracy and sound economic and political institutions.
GHTrading's Campos agrees with this, believing that without a rebuilding of trust in economic and political institutions, any positive impact on the bolivar or on the purchasing power of Venezuelans would be very limited.
"Until this confidence is restored in the economy, institutions and politics, money will continue to be a thermometer of risk to the economy," explains Campos.
The South American country has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, about 303 billion barrels, but its current production is very low due to deteriorating infrastructure, international sanctions and logistical constraints, including the availability and operation of tankers.
A few days ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the government would have "further agreements" with interim president Delsey Rodriguez, one of the most prominent figures of Chaivism, and spoke of a three-phase plan: stabilization, reconstruction and transition.
"I hope after 27 years you need to get the patient, because the change can be suddenly falling out. I hope they are a good idea to be the project.
As he explains, this process implies the fulfillment of three main conditions that characterize the rest of Latin America today and that directly affect the strength of the currency: Venezuela, Puente emphasizes, currently does not meet any of them.
Trump, who authorized the arrest of Nicolas Maduro but left the rest of Venezuela's current government intact, insisted on Friday that the president in charge would help efforts to bring American companies back to the country."It seems that they are united and I think they will continue to be," the president said.
For its part, state-owned Petrobras de Venezuela (PDVSA) confirmed it was in the process of negotiations with the United States to sell "quantities" of crude, a day after Trump's assurance that Caracas was ready to provide 30 to 50 million barrels of oil.
Neila Roa, who sells packs of cigarettes on the streets of Caracas, told the AP a few days ago that she has to be aware of daily currency fluctuations to adjust the price."Inflation and more inflation and deflation," said Roa, who was holding her five-month-old baby."It's out of control."
It spreads to the Maduro-is the one that holds in New York where he was the error of the medizere.
"We are in a limbo. We have to see how good it is and how much it will contribute to our lives," he said.
While this uncertainty continues due to the decisions of Washington and Caracas, Venezuelans are directly affected by a weakened currency after years of crisis and political instability that have forced almost 8 million people to leave the country.
