Venezuelan officials announce that the only way to buy the country’s passports is with the petro-cryptocurrency.
Against the background of the criticism, the Venezuelan authorities are pressing ahead with the integration of the country’s national crypto currency – the Petro – into everyday life.
As we reported here, the Petro will be officially launched next month, around 11 months after it was first announced. The idea is that it will be used to fight hyperinflation in Venezuela and try to bring the country’s economy under some degree of control. However, critics have already slammed the Petro, suggesting that there is no market confidence in it.
Still, Venezuelan officials are doubling. Now comes an announcement from the country’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who has said that starting this week, if Venezuelan citizens want a passport, they will have to work with the Petro to get it. A new passport costs 2 petro, while an extension of an existing document returns 1 petro.
These amounts represent four times the current national monthly minimum wage in the country. Hence, this move will inevitably curb the number of people who choose to leave Venezuela each month.
The Petro official is set to go on sale from November 5th, and few expect it now to have the drastic economic impact that the country’s government is betting on (in more ways than one). Thanks to the new passport prices, it now looks like there is no way out for many who are stuck in the country.
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