undefined | Better HN

0 pointsantsar12y ago0 comments

Possibly ignorant American here. You have a limit on what you are allowed to spend on online purchases? How is it enforced and by whom?

0 comments

5 comments · 3 top-level

rafaelm12y ago· 2 in thread

Yes, it's enforced by the government. Same goes for those travelling abroad. You get a maximum of $2500 per year for travel. The govt office in charge of the control is called cadivi.

Nicholas_C12y ago

I work for a company that does business in Venezuela. Companies that go through Cadivi have a hard time paying us, the government just doesn't want to let money out of the country. Doing business with any Venezuelan company unless it's government owned is an absolute pain. Those that are government owned, from what I have seen, don't have to go through Cadivi. The strange thing is, some companies have minimal problems with Cadivi and require a lot less paperwork, while others have a terrible time getting any USD to us. I'm guessing some of them are greasing the wheels a little more than others.

rafaelm12y ago

You are not far from the truth. Those companies owned by government officials and their friends get to buy dollars via Cadivi at the official rate of Bs.6.3 per dollar, while everyone else is stuck buying at the black market rate of Bs.50 per dollar.

You can imagine how lucrative that is. It's basically a money printer. Buy at Bs.6.30, sell at Bs.50 then repeat...

But the government tries to blame the inflation and corruption on some venezuelan tourist that takes their $2500 yearly allowance and finds a way to convert that to cash.

personlurking12y ago

I was working (and living) in Rio once when a Venezuelan came in asking about doing some sort of side deal in order to "buy" what we were offering. It was very long-winded but the gist is that he could only take out a very small amount from the ATM (a month?) and so he was looking for someone to do business with him another way. It took a while to get what he was saying because I just didn't trust that what he was saying was true. Anyways, it was my bosses call and the guy had to look elsewhere.

maxerickson12y ago

Out of country sites likely won't accept Argentinian pesos, so the enforcement can be done at the level of the banks/money changers (by just requiring them to document who for and why they exchanged some dollars or whatever).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse