Venezuela’s central bank on Thursday released long-awaited data showing the depth of the OPEC country’s recession, a day after President Nicolas Maduro announced a package of measures seen as insufficient to salvage the unraveling economy. Venezuela’s fuel – the world’s cheapest – will be increased in price for the first time in nearly 20 years and the complex system of fixed exchange rates has been devaluated and revamped. The fuel increase could amount to 5 percent of this year’s budget, according to Reuters calculations, and will give state oil producer PDVSA’s strained balance sheets a breather. However, it remains unclear if what Maduro announced as a “floating” exchange rate would actually be allowed to float, or like previous such rates essentially become fixed and fail to satiate demand for greenbacks, further weakening the bolivar on the black market. Still, with basics like milk and medicine running short and the […]