Venezuela is seeking to build a trade bloc that conducts transactions outside the U.S. dollar, allowing it to finalize oil sales beyond the reach of U.S. sanctions. China, Russia, and India are Venezuela’s prospects for the bloc. “We can all build one economy and that economy does not necessarily have to be within the dollar economy,” stated the country’s oil minister. The minister also suggested that the economy could be based on bartering goods between countries. Additional details from the ministry were not forthcoming, however, as the government announced it would not “inform those who want to destroy our oil industry.”
Similar blocs have been proposed by various actors around the world seeking to bypass the tremendous control the U.S. has over international transactions. This particular effort, however, could be a failed, last-ditch effort of the Maduro regime to prop up its failing economy and fend off an opposition government with growing international support.
Source: Venezuela hopes to create non-dollar trading bloc | Reuters
