CARA­CAS–Econ­o­mists in Venezuela are pre­dict­ing that a new cur­ren­cy de­val­u­a­tion won't solve some of the coun­try's biggest eco­nom­ic prob­lems, in­clud­ing a dearth of dol­lars for im­port­ed goods and short­ages of some sta­ple foods.The coun­try's fifth de­val­u­a­tion in a decade took ef­fect yes­ter­day. The new gov­ern­ment-set rate of 6.30 bo­li­vars to the dol­lar is down from the pre­vi­ous rate of 4.30 bo­li­vars to the dol­lar.

Venezuela al­so has a flour­ish­ing black mar­ket in which bo­li­vars are be­ing trad­ed for more than three times the new of­fi­cial rate.Econ­o­mist Jose Guer­ra ex­press­es doubts that the Cen­tral Bank and gov­ern­ment cur­ren­cy agency will be able to meet heavy de­mand for dol­lars, es­pe­cial­ly now that of­fi­cials have elim­i­nat­ed a state-run bond trad­ing sys­tem that had pro­vid­ed dol­lars at a sec­ond-tier rate.

AP