Venenzuela Plans to Strengthen Petro to Consolidate Economic Independence

The Government of Venezuela is planning to integrate its own cryptocurrency Petro into the country’s economic framework with the objective of selling oil in this national virtual currency. Petro was launched last year by Venezuelan President backed by OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which is the nation’s oil and gold reserve.

According to a report from Venezuelan media network TeleSUR, Venezuela will begin to market its oil production with the national cryptocurrency Petro, in order to expand the modalities of commercial transactions and revenues through the sale-purchase of crude oil from March 2019.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Thursday that the measure is aimed at diversifying the international market, including the digital forms of payment within the economic agreements signed with other allied countries, without relying solely on the US dollar.

“In 2019 we have a schedule for it [oil] to be sold in Petros and in this way continue to free us from a currency that the elite of Washington uses,” said President Maduro in a statement to the press.

He explained that the idea is to expand foreign transactions with the digital token (Petro) through a six-year financial plan to mitigate the consequences of US-led trade sanctions. Venezuela has been subject to crippling financial “blockade” by the United States and the Trump administration. The main purpose of such a venture is on minimizing the dollar’s dominance in the industry.

“It is necessary to promote a balanced, fair and diverse monetary system, in which the dollar enters as an exchange currency, but which is not used as a political mechanism,” Maduro commented.

Maduro proclaims that “The Economic Revolution” will come about with the introduction of Petro, to break the economic siege imposed by “imperialism.” “Nobody will stop us” He assures via a tweet.

The declaration came after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Maduro observed that Russia is buying and selling oil and its derivatives in Chinese yuan and It’s only fair that Venezuela also progressively sell all their oil production in Petros.

Venezuela has already tied the New national currency Bolivar to Petro early this year. It has started selling Petro to citizens in October via a government portal.

“We will always defend OPEC and the alliance with countries that do not belong to OPEC, our position is very clear, we believe that there must be a cut and an extension of the Vienna agreement of December 2016,” he concludes ratifying the position of his country to defend the interests of the members of the OPEC.