Paper short abstract:

Due to hyperinflation, the bolivar has almost ceased to circulate in various regions in Venezuela and people prefer foreign currencies, cryptos, and gold for economic exchange and storage. What can the rapid shift to a multi-currency economy tell us about local ideas of autonomy and self-government?

Paper long abstract:

In the previous decade, Venezuela’s economy has witnessed a mind-boggling hyperinflation. A mixture of state negligence in the oil industry, bad economic policy, corruption, declining oil prices, and US and EU economic sanctions are said to be the causative agents. Although inflation was not uncommon in the previous decades, this exceptional loss of value of the bolívar, the national currency, has caused various unintended processes in people’s everyday lives. The country has entirely lost its monetary unity. Aside from barter, Venezuelans now use a different combination of US dollars, Brazilian reais, Colombian pesos, Euros, cryptocurrencies, and gold that have become the principal forms of economic exchange and storage. What can the rapid shift to a multi-currency economy tell us about local ideas of autonomy and self-government? In this roundtable, I will particularly focus on the lived experiences of ‘ordinary’ Venezuelans in in the border town of Santa Elena de Uairén near Brazil. In this Amazonian region the bolivar has almost ceased to circulate, and the multicurrency economy largely runs on gold and foreign currencies. Yet, inflation still marks the rhythm of everyday life, as foreign currencies have been ‘infected’ by local inflationary processes and international sanctions. Moreover, in what way does the smuggling of food and fuel, next to gold, constitute the changing values of the different currencies that sustain their regional economy? Often operating in between the licit and illicit, I will also include personal experiences of dealing with hyperinflation, including the role of digital transfers and barter practices.