CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela has cut in half the dollar allowance that Venezuelan travelers are permitted to spend abroad on their credit cards, reducing the amount from $5,000 to $2,500 a year.
The measure to tighten currency controls comes as President Hugo Chavez’s government looks to conserve its dollar revenues from declining oil earnings to spend on imports.
Currency controls imposed by Chavez, right, in 2003 aim at stemming capital flight and require that Venezuelans obtain dollars through a government agency for travel abroad.
The dollars are made available to travelers at the official rate of 2.15 strong bolivars to the dollar.
But on the black market, dollars sell for more than twice that, opening the door for Venezuelans to try to obtain dollars abroad and sell them at home for a profit.
