Venezuela faces debate over formal dollarization and economic impact

The debate over dollarization in Venezuela continues through both economic discourse and linguistic shifts in daily life. While the U.S. dollar is increasingly used in commercial transactions, the national currency, the bolívar, remains the official tender.

Leader Luis Figuera has expressed concerns regarding formal dollarization, arguing it could negatively impact small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by creating a competitive disadvantage against large corporations with easier access to foreign currency. Figuera also noted that formal dollarization lacks a constitutional framework and could impose high economic costs on the population and employment levels.

Linguistically, the influence of the dollar is reflected in local slang, with terms like ‘dolita’ emerging to describe the currency. This follows a long history of colloquialisms used to refer to the bolívar, such as ‘bolos’, ‘fuerte’, ‘locha’, and ‘tinoquitos’, reflecting the country's evolving monetary landscape and various currency reconversions.