Just over a fortnight ago, President Chávez announced a long over-due currency adjustment, thus setting a new official exchange rate for the Bolivar (see Gregory Wilpert’s, “Currency Adjustment: Necessary, but is it Socialist?”, CdOI , 22/01/10). The exchange rate modification sought to account for inflation and, as National Assembly Deputy Ricardo Sanguino stated, to “correct import - export anomalies”. Amid the raft of economic measures that Chávez presented in order to facilitate the currency adjustment, the creation of a new special fund that would seek to assist national production and aid import substitution efforts was announced. The newly created Socialist Production Bicentenary Fund (“Fondo Bicentenario Productivo Socialista”), with an initial allocation of one billion dollars, will be headed by Jorge Giordani who is currently the Minister for Planning and Development. Giordani is also known as something of an intellectual, and has recently written on Antonio Grams...
