During a recent speech, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said that sometime in the next few days, a large number of Venezuelans will receive half a Petro for free, as a Christmas bonus. According to him, all public workers and retirees in the country will receive this gift.
If Maduro fulfills his promise, he would be paying about 8 million people – including 3.5 million civil servants and 4.5 million retired workers – 50% of one Petro.
The Venezuelan Petro was launched in February last year and has been pegged by the government to a value of $60. This means that each of these people will get $30, causing the government to spend about $240 million.
Back in November, Venezuelan news platform Venepress tweeted that Maduro announced that it would be paying some money to retirees, pensioners, and civil servants. The announcement at the time also specified that the Petro would be used.
For a long time now, Venezuela has been suffering extremely high levels of hyperinflation. The Petro was reportedly created as a way to circumvent sanctions from the U.S. and other countries, and the government has been trying to force Petro adoption.
The hyperinflation has however been somewhat good for Bitcoin as September saw unprecedented levels of Bitcoin trading volumes as a result.
Image Credits: Pixabay
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