Dollarizing the economy would destroy productive sectors, warns financial expert Óscar Doval in Venezuela

Financial expert Óscar Doval weighed in on the recent debate over the country's currency, arguing that dollarizing the economy destroys domestic productive sectors. In his remarks, the specialist warned that officially adopting the dollar drastically raises local production costs. Because wages and inputs would have to be paid in foreign currency, the economy loses international competitiveness, making the country expensive to export from compared with other markets.

This exchange-rate dilemma revives recurring discussions about monetary stability and economic sovereignty in the region. Liquidity constraints and the loss of an independent monetary policy toolkit are among the central debates when dollarization is proposed as a solution to macroeconomic imbalances.

In everyday life, informal or formalized dollarization reduces the room local companies have to absorb crises and shifts pressure directly onto the operating costs of small and medium-sized enterprises. Going forward, it will be necessary to watch how exchange-rate policy proposals evolve and their impact on the purchasing power of wages in the short term.