The Cost of a Chicken in Venezuela

This is how much cash was needed to purchase a raw chicken in Venezuela last August. The chicken cost 14.6 million bolivars (Venezuela’s currency), the equivalent of a little more than two American dollars.

That month, the value of the bolivar hit an all-time low. Why? The South American nation’s economy is in the grip of inflation so severe that it caused what some economists call the “wheelbarrow problem.” That’s when a currency is worth so little, a person paying with cash would need a wheelbarrow full of it to make even a small purchase.

Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, was once one of Latin America’s richest countries. But political corruption and falling oil prices in recent years have plunged the nation into an economic crisis. Less oil income has meant Venezuela can’t afford to keep its stores—which are run by the government—stocked with food and other necessities. The shortage of such items has led prices to shoot up—and up! That, in turn, has made money less valuable.

Venezuela’s government has tried to make paying with cash easier by printing new bills that are worth more. A shopper can now get that chicken with 146 of the new bills instead of 14,600 of the old ones. But goods are still scarce, and cash is still hard to come by. Many Venezuelans have given up on money altogether. They now trade goods and services instead.