委內瑞拉準備發行一種叫做主權玻利瓦爾的新貨幣來應對眼下的惡性通脹，這種新貨幣綁定的是該國的加密貨幣石油幣，目標是把現有貨幣面值去掉5個0。總統尼古拉斯·馬杜羅于7月26日宣布新幣的實施日期為8月20日，稱委內瑞拉需要“經濟革命”。

需求十分迫切。自馬杜羅2013年上臺以來，委內瑞拉一直飽受惡性通脹之苦，同期還因為油價下跌及宏觀經濟極度不平衡導致經濟危機。在他看來，委內瑞拉是美國發動的“經濟戰爭”的受害者。馬杜羅于今年5月再次當選總統，任期六年，而聯合國與歐盟稱這次大選不公正。

國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）稱玻利瓦爾的通脹率年內會達到1,000,000% ，而該國的國內生產總值預計下跌18%。“委內瑞拉就像1923年的德國或者20世紀末的津巴布韋。”IMF在報告中稱。

委內瑞拉玻利瓦爾的改值遭到了質疑。該國的經濟學家阿斯德魯巴爾·R·奧利韋羅斯發推文稱：“主權玻利瓦爾綁定的是石油幣。白日做夢。支撐貨幣價值的力量是信心。而恰恰是因為沒有人相信玻利瓦爾，才導致了惡性通脹。”

統計學教授弗里克斯·賽加斯·R發推文稱：“我們不要忽視下面幾點：首先，主權玻利瓦爾的價值相當于查韋斯上臺時玻利瓦爾的1億倍。但是，這不全是馬杜羅的責任：查韋斯要為他在任時增長的3個0負責，現在換成馬杜羅了，他又加了5個0。歷史遺留問題。”

教授路易斯·韋森特·里昂發推文稱：“石油幣是一種沒有相關發行的貨幣，既沒有來自市場的信心，也無法在大的經濟體內使用。把新玻利瓦爾和和石油幣綁在一起相當于什么都沒綁。”

經濟分析員亨克爾·加西亞發推文稱：“我擔心這一切會讓這場貨幣危機更加復雜，在現在貨幣現金比這么低的情況下，這么操作十分困難。”

馬杜羅于2月稱，委內瑞拉政府已經預先挖了1億石油幣，出售價格將超過60億美元。美國財政部警告美國公民不要購買石油幣。石油幣的價值按理應該是由石油和礦產儲備支撐的，現在1石油幣的價格已經低于其最初60美元的售價，甚至有加密貨幣報告稱石油幣價格為16.7美元。馬杜羅在7月26日的發布會上未詳細說明將如何利用石油幣支撐主權玻利瓦爾的發行流通。

《紐約時報》稱，委內瑞拉黑市上1美元大概能換350萬玻利瓦爾。由于公共服務中斷、食物短缺，月工資相只相當于1美元，為了生存，委內瑞拉人開始越來越多地使用以物易物的方式。數十萬的委內瑞拉人已經涌入鄰國。

津巴布韋幣經歷了四輪貨幣改值，后來甚至印出了面值100萬億的鈔票，最后才廢棄了所有貨幣。西北大學的經濟學家丹尼爾·蘭斯伯格·羅德里格斯告訴《紐約時報》，想在委內瑞拉解決貨幣問題，可能還不如津巴布韋。他認為：“委內瑞拉的情況十分混亂，更難重拾信心，打破現有循環。”（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

Venezuela is tackling hyperinflation by lopping five zeroes from the value of the bolivar, creating a new currency, the Sovereign Bolivar, that will be anchored to its cryptocurrency, the Petro. President Nicolas Maduro announced the implementation date on July 26 as August 20, saying the country needs an “economic revolution.”

And it sorely does. Venezuela has been suffering under hyperinflation since Maduro took office in 2013, which coincided with falling oil prices and large macroeconomic imbalances that led to economic crisis. From his point of view, the country is the victim of an “economic war” waged by the U.S. Maduro was re-elected for another six years in May in an election the United Nations and the European Union called fraudulent.

The International Monetary Fund said the rate of inflation of the bolivar is set to hit 1,000,000% this year as Venezuela’s gross domestic product is expected to fall by 18%. “The situation in Venezuela is similar to that in Germany in 1923 or Zimbabwe in the late 2000’s,” the IMF wrote in its report.

The redenomination of the bolivar was met with skepticism. Venezuelan economist Asdrubal R. Oliveros tweeted: “The Sovereign Bolivar is anchored to Petro. A fantasy. The backing of a coin is trust. Precisely because no one trusts the bolivar is why hyperinflation was unleashed.”

El Bolívar soberano se ancla al Petro. Una entelequia. El respaldo de una moneda es la confianza. Justamente porque nadie confía en el Bolívar es que se desencadenó la hiperinflación. Así vamos…

——Asdrubal R. Oliveros

Statistics professor Félix Seijas R. tweeted, “Let’s not lose sight of the following: 1 Sovereign Bolivar would amount to 100 million of the bolivars at the time Chavez came to power. And no, it’s not a matter of Maduro: Chavez was responsible for three of those zeros in his life, and now through Maduro, another five. The legacy.”

No perdamos de vista lo siguiente: 1 bolívar soberano equivaldría a 100 millones de los bolívares con los que Chávez recibió el poder. Y no, no es un asunto de Maduro, Chávez fue responsable en vida de tres de esos ceros, y ahora, a través de Maduro, de otros cinco. El legado.

——?Félix Seijas R.

Profesor Luis Vicente Leon tweeted “The Petro is a currency without a relevant circulation, without confidence from the market and banned in large economies. Tying the new Bolivar to Petro is tying it to nothing.”

El Petro es una moneda sin circulación relevante, sin confianza en el mercado y prohibida en las grandes economías. Atar el nuevo bolívar al Petro es atarlo a la nada.

——?Luis Vicente Leon

Economic analyst Henkel Garcia tweeted: “I fear that all this will complicate the cash crisis even more, something that seemed difficult with the already very low monetary cash ratio.”

Me temo que todo esto complicará aún más la crisis de efectivo, algo que parecía difícil debido a la ya muy baja relación de efectivo / masa monetaria.

——?Henkel Garcia U.

Back in February, Maduro said 100 million Petros, pre-mined by the Venezuelan government, would be sold at a value of more than $6 billion. U.S. Treasury warned citizens not to buy it. The value of a Petro, supposedly backed by oil and mineral reserves, has dropped from its initial sale price of $60, with one cryptocurrency reporting a price of $16.70. Maduro did not offer details in his press conference on July 26 about how the Petro would support the Sovereign Bolivar.

On the black market in Venezuela, one U.S. dollar will fetch you about 3.5 million bolivars, the New York Times said. To survive amid public service outages and food shortages, with monthly wages equaling about one U.S. dollar, residents are increasingly turning to bartering. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled into neighboring countries.

Zimbabwe’s dollar went through four rounds of redenomination, with the country eventually printing a $100 trillion bill before scrapping the currency altogether. Economist Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez of Northwestern University told the New York Times Venezuela might be less successful in fixing its currency issues than Zimbabwe was. “The level of chaos in Venezuela makes it that much more difficult to restore confidence and break out of this cycle,” he said.