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Venezuela is grappling with a massive plunge in its currency and triple-digit inflation, piling pressure on authoritarian President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as US warships sink alleged drug boats off the country\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n
The currency has dropped more than 400 per cent against the dollar in the past year. The IMF sees inflation hitting 270 per cent by the end of the year \u2014 the highest in the world. In 2024, 86 per cent of Venezuelans were in poverty, the Venezuelan Finance Observatory reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing an enormous demand for dollars that cannot be met,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Guerra, a professor of economics at the Central University of Venezuela. \u201cWhether or not we\u2019re experiencing hyperinflation depends on how you define it, but it sure looks like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As US President Donald Trump publicly toys with launching land strikes, citizens of the oil-rich country are growing desperate \u2014 with memories still fresh of the period of six-digit hyperinflation that rocked Venezuela<\/a> from 2016 to 2019 and drove millions abroad.<\/p>\n Workers on a minimum wage now earn about 60 cents per month, after the bol\u00edvar fell from 43 to the dollar a year ago to 228 last week, according to central bank data. State pensions pay out a $50 monthly bonus, plus 60 cents.<\/p>\n \u201cWho can live like that?\u201d asked one pensioner at a Caracas market.<\/p>\n At a supermarket, a shopper used a mobile credit app to buy food, with 30 eggs now costing $6.40 and a kilo of cheese about $10. \u201cIt\u2019s exhausting to not have enough money to pay for food in one instalment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Guerra said the dire outlook represents as much of a threat to Maduro as any US military action: \u201cThe deeper the crisis gets, the more people are clamouring for change.\u201d<\/p>\n The leftwing government tamed the last hyperinflation crisis by relaxing price controls and tacitly allowing the US dollar to be used for everyday transactions.<\/p>\n In the run-up to last year\u2019s election, Maduro\u2019s central bank propped up the bol\u00edvar by spending billions of dollars in reserves.<\/p>\n The Cuban-trained former bus driver and union boss then claimed a third term in a vote deemed fraudulent by international observers. An opposition count, verified by independent monitors, showed its candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez had won more than 80 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n Soon afterwards, the central bank reduced its currency interventions, and Maduro<\/a> jailed anti-government protesters and opposition figures. He has since cracked down on people reporting on the economy\u2019s dismal state: independent economists and publishers of black market exchange rates have been arrested.<\/p>\n The IMF predicts annual inflation will soar past 680 per cent next year.\u00a0The central bank has stopped publishing inflation data. Dollars are scarce on the street, and Venezuelans rely on cryptocurrencies to purchase goods and squirrel away savings.\u00a0<\/p>\n US sanctions on Venezuelan oil have further complicated the outlook. After initially allowing Chevron\u2019s licence to produce Venezuelan crude to expire, the Trump administration renewed its permission<\/a> in July. The state department said the US major would not be allowed to pay taxes and royalties to Maduro\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, at least 69 people have been killed in at least 17 strikes by the US in the largest naval build-up in the region in three decades. Trump last month threatened land strikes, but this week said he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be inclined to say\u201d that was his plan.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Senate Republicans blocked a measure that would have prohibited military action in Venezuela by 51-49. Washington\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, is sailing from the Mediterranean with 4,500 troops to join the flotilla.<\/p>\n Maduro believes the deployment is aimed at removing him from office. \u201cEverything they are doing against Venezuela is to justify war, regime change, and to steal our immense oil wealth,\u201d he said during a recent televised meeting with officials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But a survey of 1,324 Venezuelans, living in the country and in the diaspora, published this week by local pollster Es Noticia found only 20 per cent blamed US sanctions for the country\u2019s economic woes, down from 33 per cent in September.<\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/eda1eb9f-226c-4f43-9a2c-4a5fcea28d44.jpg\")
A man counts bol\u00edvars at a street market in Caracas \u00a9 Ariana Cubillos\/AP<\/p>\n![\"USS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/5a6a3c50-23bc-4021-ad47-d9fec6f3935a.jpg\")
Maduro believes the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford is aimed at removing him as president \u00a9 Lise Aaserud\/NTB Scanpix\/AP<\/p>\n
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