CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's bolivar currency was set by the central bank Thursday at a level slightly weaker against the dollar from a day earlier, when the new, tightly regulated currency exchange market was launched.
The implicit exchange rate in the market Thursday was about VEF5.29 for $1, traders said, basing their estimates on data provided by the central bank.
Thursday's exchange rate value for the bolivar is a hair weaker from the VEF5.27 for $1 that the central bank said the currency traded at Wednesday.
The market technically trades in a band, which Thursday had a minimum of about VEF4.3 for $1 and the maximum of VEF5.29. But analysts say most if not all the trades will take place at the top end of the band.
Venezuela created the new currency market, in which each trade must be approved by the central bank, to replace a free-floating, unregulated market that had been used since 2003.
President Hugo Chavez said the old market had become replete with speculators and fraudsters in announcing plans to do away with that market last month.
With the bank overseeing all trades in the new system, fraud and speculation may be avoided. But analysts said the result could be that the new market will become a plodding, bureaucratic system in which importers in need of dollars quickly to pay their suppliers may become frustrated and turn instead to a forex black market.
Venezuela already has two other exchange rates, one for VEF4.3 for $1 for imports of non-essential goods and another for VEF2.6 that's used for imports of key items such as medicine. Getting those rates, however, also requires strict government approval.
Central Bank President Nelson Merentes told a local radio station Wednesday that $17 million worth of U.S. currency was traded in the new currency market on the first day of operations. But a press release later in the day said the figure was only $5 million.
Officials were not immediately available at the central bank to reconcile the two figures. Either way, analysts say volume will need to rise substantially in the coming days and weeks to match the old, unregulated market, which saw trading volume of around $80 million a day.
Article Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100610-710262.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines