The spread of dollar transactions in Venezuela does not mean that the majority of citizens have access to foreign currency or that at least their salaries are tied to the unofficial exchange rate. The recovery of Venezuelans’ purchasing power is a pipedream that is limited to a minority that has access to foreign currency.
According to the most recent study of the company Datanálisis, barely 9% of the citizens claim to receive some type of work-related compensation in foreign currency.
Broken down by self-defined political leanings, 10.7% of opposition and 9.8% of independents admit to receiving compensations in foreign currency, however barely 2.6% of “Chavistas” claim to benefit from this privilege.
Broken down by social class, only 14.7% of those who are middle class claim to have compensation in foreign currency, as well as 5.6% of the poorest population.
The possibility of receiving work-related compensations in bolivars calculated according to the unofficial exchange rate is not a widespread practice either.
Datanálisis concludes that just 10% of citizens get paid their salaries this way. In this case, 16% of those citizens are from the opposition, 7% are independents and 4.3% “Chavistas”.
15% of those in the middle class and 10.5% of the poorest population are paid in bolivars according to the unofficial exchange rate.
