Imagine living in an economy where barter is the currency and where you have to pay food items such bananas or eggs for something as small as a haircut. That's exactly what is happening in Venezuela. In the hyper-inflationary South American country, where bank notes are as difficult to find as chronically scarce food and medicine, Venezuelans are increasingly relying on barter for basic transactions.
"There is no cash here, only barter," said Mileidy Lovera, 30, while hoping to trade a cooler of fish that her husband had caught for food to feed her four children, or medicine to treat her son's epilepsy.
How did it all began?
The economic crisis in Venezuela has spiked in past few months. The economic collapse, which began under President Nicolas Maduro's government, has driven nearly one million people - 3 percent of the population - to emigrate between 2015 and 2017.
Economictimes.indiatimes.com reports how Maduro, re-elected to a fresh six-year term in May in elections condemned by the United States, blames spiralling consumer prices and constant shortages of food and medicine on an "economic war" led by the opposition and Washington. Economists say the central bank has not printed bills fast enough to keep up with inflation, which according to the opposition-run congress, reached an annual rate of almost 25,000 percent in May.
