Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced that Venezuela will shift away from using U.S. dollars in trade, emphasizing that the de-dollarization process is “inevitable.” He described: “This is the path of Venezuela and the path of a free economy where currencies are not used to punish countries and impose sanctions.”
Venezuela Shifting Away From USD in Trade
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, said on his weekly “Con Maduro +” program earlier this week that Venezuela will shift away from using the U.S. dollar in trade. Commending Zimbabwe for its initiative to issue gold-backed digital currency, he said (as translated from Spanish by Google):
Many alternative initiatives to the dollar are emerging in the world. We could say that we are beginning to experience a sustained accelerated process of de-dollarization of the commercial world — of world trade.
He added that it would be good for Venezuela to study these initiatives, emphasizing that the process of de-dollarization globally is “inevitable.”
The Venezuelan president, who previously expressed support for Latin America to have one single currency, proceeded to describe that as the world moves “further toward equilibrium,” becoming “more multipolar” and “more pluricentric,” “a basket of currencies will appear for trade, for financial functioning.”
He then condemned “the political use” of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency and its associated financial system by the U.S. to sanction countries, naming China, Russia, India, Iran, Turkey, Venezuela, and Cuba in particular. Maduro opined:
The world comes to a point where it gets tired, and also new economic powers are emerging … There could be a basket of currencies.
Maduro then highlighted Zimbabwe’s gold-backed digital currency initiative as a step towards “necessary and fair” de-dollarization efforts. He also mentioned de-dollarization initiatives by the BRICS economic bloc, mentioning the group’s New Development Bank (NDB). The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are also working to create a common currency that will help them reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar.
Noting that the BRICS leaders plan to discuss a proposal for a common BRICS currency at their upcoming leaders’ summit in August, Maduro stressed that if a BRICS currency emerges, a new world is “necessary.” He emphasized that Venezuela needs to position itself for the new world, stating:
This is the path of Venezuela and the path of a free economy where currencies are not used to punish countries and impose sanctions.
The official Twitter account for Maduro also tweeted Wednesday: “The de-dollarization of world trade is inevitable, we are living it. Gone will be the old world of criminal sanctions and economic manipulations, with the interest of punishing the people. The rebirth of a new world is today, where freedom, justice, and respect prevail!”
A growing number of countries other than the BRICS nations are pushing to use local currencies instead of the USD. Ten Southeast Asian countries, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), recently agreed to “encourage the use of local currencies for economic and financial transactions.” Multiple people have warned that a successful BRICS currency will erode the U.S. dollar’s dominance, including a former White House economist.
What do you think about Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s statements regarding de-dollarization? Let us know in the comments section below.
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