Venezuela considers official dollarization of its economy

Venezuela has been running a quiet experiment in dollarization for years. Since roughly 2018 and 2019, the US dollar has functioned as the country’s real currency, filling the void left by a bolívar so battered by inflation it barely registers as money. Now, a formal proposal to make that reality official is forcing a political reckoning. As of mid-September 2026, opposition lawmaker Antonio Ecarri pushed a dollarization bill through public debate, only to see it blocked by the Chavismo-aligned national assembly on constitutional grounds. The proposal, backed analytically by economist Steve Hanke, would replace the bolívar entirely with the US dollar. A country already living in dollars Approximately 65% of retail transactions in Venezuela are conducted in US dollars as of 2026, meaning formal dollarization would largely ratify what shopkeepers, landlords, and street vendors already figured out on their own. Inflation reached 576% year-on-year by July 2026, a number that sounds abstract until you consider what it means in practice: prices doubling and tripling within months, savings evaporating, and any salary denominated in bolívares losing value before it clears the bank. A May 2...