Chavez Eases Currency Control

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced he has instructed the government's finance minister to ease currency controls which have been in place since February last year after a business lock-out and sabotage of the oil industry caused more than $10 billion in revenue loss, an acceleration of capital flight and devaluation of the local bolivar currency.

The government had been forced to halt free currency exchange and to slowly set up a system allowing businesses to buy US dollars to import goods and pay foreign debts.

The president's opponents complained that the currency controls were too strict because they required tedious paperwork, and required companies to be up-to-date with their tax and social security payments.