12 March 2010

VENEZULA: Drought Continues, Currency Loses Value, Chavez Praying For Rain.

MERCOPRESS/    The El Guri hydroelectric plant supplies Caracas with 70% of power. But it has reached a “critical level,” forcing continued blackouts. Yet President Hugo Chavez maintained in his weekly TV chat that "... you can bet it’s going to rain, pour with rain, because God is Bolivarian.” A banker predicts that the currency could fall as low as 9 per USD in the “worst scenario” as the government preserves foreign reserves. It currently stands at 6.85 per USD in the unregulated market after a decline of 9.5% this year.