Baby steps toward freedom?
We can only wish
Apparently, if you’re a person (not a company) and you buy currency through the new SICAD dollar auctions, you can buy as many dollars as you want as long as they are for traveling, education, or health purposes.
Regardless of how we all agree this dual exchange rate system is boneheaded (it basically makes arbitrage a legitimate business), this is the first time in a long while the Venezuelan government takes steps that get us closer to a free market than the opposite. It’s also the first time we see steps that could lead one to hope for the end of Misión Cadivi.
Many people have said that one step toward dismantling Cadivi would be to make the black market “official.” And one way to do that would be to allow people to buy dollars in the market with little government interference.
I don’t know if SICAD is there yet, but it’s certainly a step in that direction.
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