Venezuelans jittery over economic reforms

People line up to buy cheese at a market in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro raised wages for the fifth time this year while saying he's looking to establish a single exchange rate tied to the nation's fledgling cryptocurrency.Ariana Cubillos / AP Residents across Venezuela’s capital spent a nervous weekend bracing for dramatic measures that President Nicolas Maduro has announced to rescue a downward-spiraling economy, including a more-than-3,000 percent hike in the minimum wage.

The changes start to kick in Monday with the introduction of a new currency that lops five zeroes off the country’s fast-depreciating bills. Maduro says he’ll also raise gasoline prices to international levels — a combination of measures critics say will only make things worse.

Opposition leaders seized on tension among residents, calling for a nationwide strike and protest Tuesday. They hope to draw masses into the streets against Maduro’s socialist ruling party — something they’ve failed to do in over a year.

Banks will close Monday as they prepare to release the “sovereign bolivar,” the new currency printed with five fewer zeroes in a bid to tame soaring inflation. Maduro’s government says that in late-September, the world’s cheapest gas will rise to international levels to curtail rampant smuggling across borders.

Maduro said Friday that the minimum wage will also soon jump dramatically.

Economists say the package of measures is likely to accelerate hyperinflation rather than address its core economic troubles, like oil production plunging to levels last seen in 1947.

“The bolivar’s redenomination will be like going under the knife of one of Caracas’ famed plastic surgeons,” Johns Hopkins University economist Steve Hanke wrote on www.forbes.com. “Appearances change, but, in reality, nothing changes. That’s what’s in store for the bolivar: a face-lift.”

Lines on Saturday were longer than normal at a Caracas street market, where people stocked up due to uncertainty about what will come this week. Many were frustrated by bank card readers that were slow to register or that failed altogether, forcing some to leave their goods walking away empty-handed.

“You have to be patient,” a shop worker selling grains told a growing line of customers. Many other stores remained closed, uncertain what prices to set for their goods.