TODAY VENEZUELA NEWS (MarketWath.com) The Venezuelan bolivar fell to an all-time low against the dollar on Monday, according to data from DolarToday, a site that tracks black-market trading in the currency.
The currency traded at 3,480 to the dollar, a 15% slide since Friday, extending a historic rout that has seen the Venezuelan currency shed more than half of its value relative to the dollar so far this month. That marks its largest-ever monthly drop, according to Dolartoday.
DolarToday is maintained by 60-year-old Gustavo Diaz, a Home Depot Inc. employee in central Alabama who was dubbed “Public enemy No. 1 of Venezuela’s revolutionary government,” by The Wall Street Journal.
To arrive at his black-market rate, Diaz polls illicit currency dealers based in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
Diaz noted that in Cúcuta, a Colombian city situated on the country’s border with Venezuela, bolivars were trading against the Colombian peso at a rate equivalent to 3,600 to the dollar.
Venezuela’s economy is reeling from a sharp decline in the price of oil UK:LCOF7 , the country’s primary export and the main source of revenue for its beleaguered government. Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election sparked a sharp selloff across emerging markets, with the currencies of Latin American economies absorbing the brunt of it.
The Simadi rate, one of the official exchange rates maintained by Venezuela’s government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, was pegged at 663.89 bolivar to the dollar. Venezuelan businesses can apply to buy dollars at the more favorable exchange rate if they’re bringing crucial supplies, such as medicine, into the country.
