Caracas Chronicles, a politics and economics-focused website based in Venezuela states that the country’s pensioners receive a notification when their monthly payments arrive. However this time around they received a second notification that informed them that their funds were “for the concept of Savings in Petro.”
The website states that the year of hyperinflation has eaten into the pensioner’s savings and thus they depend on the government bonuses. The Inflation rate of the country is now close to 200,000%, according to Bloomberg’s Café Con Leche Index. Pensioners regularly visit a government-owned portal, paria.org.ve to avail their pensions and to transfer the funds to their bank accounts.
The website claims that the Venezuelan government first deposited the pension in bolivars only to later convert it into its oil-backed cryptocurrency, Petro.
“They sent people the bolivars, and then, from their accounts, they exchanged them to petros.”
Petro’s adoption
The government has been strongly pushing the financial institutions and citizens to adopt Petro. The Maduro government even ordered Venezuela’s banks to adopt Petro. Moreover, the country pushed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to recognize the token as the “Digital Currency For Oil”.
Trying all avenues, the government also mandated the Venezuelans to pay for their passport fee via the oil-backed cryptocurrency. As for the pensioners, while they can convert the Petro in bolivars, but that is not an easy process. President Nicolas Maduro shared a link to an 8-step guide on how to do it on his Official Twitter account.
Nuestros adultos y adultas mayores recibieron el tercer mes de aguinaldo en Petro, y podrán canjearlo en divisas o bolívares soberanos.
Entérate cómo, aquí ?? https://t.co/K4kXjnvv8L pic.twitter.com/Y6LxYD7qHw— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) December 10, 2018