Payments Landscape in Venezuela: Opportunities and Risks to 2021 Summary Venezuelangovernment in September 2017 introduced VAT rate reductions of 3% and 5% on products and services purchased using electronic modes of payment such as payment cards, in order to reduce dependence on cash in the country...
José Khan, director of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), reiterated in January 2017 that there would be a new monetary cone with six new bills. The first bills that will begin to circulate are 500, 5,000 and 20,000 bolivar notes. Venezuelan`s are concerned about obtaining bolivars for any transaction, as they will need more bills to buy...
Open-loop pre-paid cards are an additional benefit for Venezuelan employees, in both the public and private sector, and represent 100% of the prepaid cards that are used in the country. There are two modes of delivery for employee benefits: Open loop pre-paid cards, mainly through Visa or MasterCard, and vouchers. They are accepted nationwide...
Due to the high prices in the Venezuelan economy resulting from inflation – which for 2016 stood at 475.9% and with a further triple-digit rate for 2017 – consumers prefer to pay for their purchases with debit cards. This trend is determined by several factors, one of the main ones is the difficulty of carrying the large sums of money required...
Store card transactions continued to decline in number in 2017, with negative value growth in real terms. Banks continued to offer these cards without any promotions which could otherwise lead to an increase in the number of users with the possibility of obtaining prizes and incentives. Euromonitor International’s Store Card Transactions...
In Venezuela, there are regulations for banks regarding interest rates which are set by Central Bank. For purchases made with credit cards the interest rate is capped at 29%, which is much lower than the inflation rate seen in 2016, which amounted to 475.8% according to Central Bank. Inflation continued to grow during 2017, with it remaining...