Gasoline prices in Venezuela will soon catch up with world market ones, as the government seeks ways to tackle rampant fuel smuggling that, according to president Nicolas Maduro, is costing the Venezuelan economy billions.
According to Oil Price, Venezuelan drivers have enjoyed heavily subsidized gasoline up until now, but now that Maduro has decided to tackle the smuggling problem by making the fuel costlier, even this little joy will be taken away from them or at least those who do not have a government-issued ID card.
A lot of government opponents refuse to have the ID, AP reported. Those who show the document at a filling station would still be able to get gas at a price of less than one US cent for a full tank.
What prevents smugglers from flashing their IDs at the station and get the cheap fuel to sell in neighboring Colombia or Ecuador remains a mystery.
The gasoline price news is part of a wider economic overhaul that will also see the new cryptocurrency that Caracas launched in February be used alongside the Bolivar, which state oil company PDVSA will use for all its transactions.
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