In struggling Venezuela, a cigarette buys a fill-up

In this Oct. 8, 2019 photo, gas station attendant Leowaldo Sanchez poses with food items he was paid with by motorists: a bottle of cooking oil, a kilogram if rice and a package of corn flour, as he works at the pump in San Antonio de los Altos on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela. Bartering at the pump has taken off as hyperinflation makes Venezuela’s paper currency, the bolivar, hard to find and renders some denominations all but worthless, so that nobody will accept them. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
In this Oct. 8, 2019 photo, gas station attendant Leowaldo Sanchez poses with food items he was paid with by motorists: a bottle of cooking oil, a kilogram if rice and a package of corn flour, as he works at the pump in San Antonio de los Altos on the outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela. Bartering at the pump has taken off as hyperinflation makes Venezuela’s paper currency, the bolivar, hard to find and renders some denominations all but worthless, so that nobody will accept them. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Motorists in socialist Venezuela have long had the world's cheapest gasoline, with fuel so heavily subsidized that a full tank these days costs less than a U.S. penny. But the economy is in such shambles that drivers are now paying for fill-ups with a little food, a candy bar or just a cigarette.

Bartering at the pump has taken off as hyperinflation makes Venezuela's paper currency, the bolivar, hard to find and renders some denominations all but worthless, so that nobody will accept them.

Without cash in their wallets, drivers often hand gas station attendants a bag of rice, cooking oil or whatever is within reach.

"You can pay with a cigarette," said Orlando Molina, filling up his subcompact Ford Ka in Caracas. "Heck, it's no secret to anyone that it goes for nothing."

Gas is so cheap that station attendants don't even know the price. Empty-handed drivers get waved through, paying nothing at all.

This barter system, while perhaps the envy of cash-strapped drivers outside the country, is just another symptom of bedlam in Venezuela.

The South American nation of roughly 30 million people is gripped by a deepening political and economic crisis. People live with a sense that anything from violent street protests to a large power failure could throw their lives into chaos at any moment.

The International Monetary Fund says inflation is expected to hit a staggering 200,000% this year. Venezuela dropped five zeros from its currency last year in a futile attempt to keep up with inflation. Soaring prices quickly devoured the new denominations.

The smallest bill in circulation, 50 bolivars, is worth about a quarter of a U.S. penny. City buses and even banks don't accept it, arguing that it would take such a thick wad of bills to pay for even the most modest items that it wouldn't be worth the trouble. The largest bill, 50,000 bolivars, equals $2.50.

Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, was once rich. But the economy has fallen into ruin because of what critics say has been two decades of corruption and mismanagement under socialist rule.

Amid the economic crash, President Nicolas Maduro has not substantially raised gas prices, a strategy that was probably reinforced after violent protests recently forced the president of Ecuador to back off plans to end fuel subsidies there.

Information for this article was contributed by Jorge Rueda, Ricardo Nunes and Clbyburn Saint John of The Associated Press.

A Section on 10/27/2019

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