Venezuela gasoline prices have been steady in the Bolivar economy as the government centrally controlled it as they run PDVSA. The prices almost tripled from January to February from $0.6/l to $1.7/l. Then the price fell in March to $1.21/l, but as of April 2018 numbers, the gas prices jumped 619.83% to $8.71/l. That's up 1351.66% from January 2018. It is not Venezuelan Bolivar prices as the currency has completely collapsed, but with a USD price skyrocketing the Venezuelan economy is fully collapsed. Venezuela as of January 2018 numbers Venezuela has the most significant oil reserves in the world.
What caused the gas prices to go up when the country has all of these oil reserves? As I said above the problem is that PDVSA ran oil refineries. They run on way below capacity in the managed economy caused by no money available to repair them. In October 2017 Venezuela produced 955,000-barrel-per-day and refineries ran at 34% capacity. By February 2018 Venezuela Produced 701,000-barrel-per-day and refineries were running at 43%. Current Venezuela Produced 510,000-barrel-per-day and are running on only 31% of production capacity. In May, PDVSA will face a deficit of 14,000 bpd - mainly diesel and jet fuel- for export contracts.
The price hike comes from my analysis of the government trying to control supply and demand and managing the price without the market being allowed to set the price. Even with the economic collapse and hyperinflation in Venezuela, you can see that the Venezuelan government have destroyed the market and their $0.6/l gasoline was not their market price if to take into account real supply and demand. In June 2013 it was $0.01/l.
Reality has hit Venezuela hard, and with real inflation calculation of using Bitcoin price in Bolivares vs USD the exchange rate is at 1,329,599.48:1 while the Forex exchange price lies at 78,651.56:1 That is a difference of 1590.49% from the official numbers. That shows an inflation rate of 13,379% while if from my calculations inflation should be around 2,127,261% based on my calculation of the "black market" price.
As I wrote in my book The End Of Freedom: How Our Monetary System Enslaves Us in 2015: As you read this, the current Venezuelan Bolivar may have ceased to exist, ended in hyperinflation, default or a revaluation.
With my last quote, it is quite clear that the Venezuelan economy is dead from the 1000's of socialist/communist leeches that attached to it and now they are paying the price!
The productive class has left the economy, and the poor class and the lower middle class is left that cannot support the economy as most business people, and productive people have left the country before the fiat currency shit hit the fan.
Hopefully, the government will collapse, but the problem as stated above is that the productive class has mostly left the country. It could turn into a complete tyranny as we see in Venezuela, China or Cuba and the reason I say China is because of the technocratic tyranny implemented there. It is up to the people to see through the fog of collectivism, and their fiat currency front to see that individual right is the only right answer out of this calamity!
Peace, Love and Voluntaryism,
John