By Due to extreme Hyperinflation in Venezuela, the nation’s Central Bank has released an Android app to help citizens calculate how many new sovereign bolivar units they possess. The release arrives after the national government re-denominated the old currency last week.
The national government in Venezuela has resorted to staking nearly all it has on the “Petro” virtual currency, due to severe hyperinflation.
President Nicholas Maduro, announced a new exchange rate for the country’s Bolivar in August, which is linked to the Petro. According to Maduro, one Petro is equivalent to $60 U.S. Dollars or 360 million bolivars. Consequently, this devalues the national currency by 96%.
The new pegged currency was dubbed the “sovereign bolivar”. Maduro recently reported that the new currency, along with a variety of other economic incentives, consisted of his “formula” to help “the country to recover.”
Many critics in the international community remain convinced that the Petro and the new sovereign bolivar are an embellishment of the truth. It was reported by Wired, that the so called the new currency “a scam on top of another scam.”
Despite the backlash, the Venezuelan government appears to be pushing forward. The country’s Central Bank recently announced that they’ve released an Android application geared towards helping citizens “understand and assimilate the monetary re-denomination process.”
The Sovereign Calculator, was the name of the application developed on behalf of the Central Bank for everyone.
In the re-denomination of the bolivar, five zeros were removed from the old value, making calculations on the application rudimentary. The app has a rating of 4.5 stars across 241 reviews, after already being downloaded thousands of times.
The app has received mixed reviews, where some of the reviewers have praised the app’s design and functionality, while others have critiqued it.
One reviewer argued that they knew that the bolivar has failed when the government has designed a “calculator app that artificially deflates the true value.” Another critic predicted that “they will remove zero’s…very soon again”, which would render the app useless.
Despite having the app available, Venezuelan shoppers are still required to keep the black-market exchange rate in mind. Right now, this underground rate is about 40% weaker than the official exchange rate.
The application’s creator, Comunicacion Digital VE, has a history of creating programs that support the ruling government. Examples of such applications include “Todo Chavez”, in honor of past President Hugo Chavez, and “Vamos Nico,” designed to build support for President Maduro.
CENTRAL BANK CREATING CHANGE
Many Venezuelans are still struggling under a failed economic model, despite the new currency.
Experts are of the opinion that Maduro’s new economic initiatives are just going to cause more chaos for Venezuelans. For instance, planned minimum wage increases will be detrimental for businesses and companies. The skewed prices within the framework of the new currency are looking to portend bad news for some citizens.
A group of merchants was arrested for inflating prices after the currency change. The authorities reportedly arrested others for cutting off a smaller number of zeroes than the legal five.
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