ge reliance from the government is likely to govern a lack of incline to continue using a currency which is losing value. Part of the seigniorage serves a purpose as an inflation tax. The rate of inflation acts as a tax rate therefore an increasing rate of inflation would result in higher levels of revenue for the government. This however, is dependent on the public’s willingness to maintain real money balances as an increase in inflation means a decrease in money balances available for public holding – potentially limiting the revenue generated by the government. In essence, hyperinflation can potentially be perceived as a large scale taxation scheme.
During periods of inflation, the real purchasing power of tax revenues decline. Constant expenditures lead to a larger budget deficit as a result of the reductions in the real value of revenues. This tendency of inflation to increase the real budget deficit is referred to as the Tanzi effect. During hyperinflation, however, the Tanzi effect reduces the real value of tax revenues.
It’s deemed that so long as individuals remain confident in fiscal authorities and their ability to respond to inflation – via the means of increasing taxes or decreasing expenditures – they will hold money as a means of exchange and store of value. However, upon the emergence of the Tanzi effect, people’s confidence in the government’s ability to manage the deficit is disrupted, prompting them to reduce their holdings of real money balances (Niskanen Center 2018).
It’s apparent that the Venezuelan government spending is significantly exceeding that which it is taking in and therefore putting them in a budget deficit. The government ceased releasing statistics with regards to the magnitude of the country’s budget deficit a few years ago. Nevertheless, reducing it is deemed a prime concern. However the CIA have estimated that the deficit is approximately 46% of the countries gross domestic product during the period of 2017 (Bloomberg 2019). One approach in hope of restoring Venezuela’s previously satisfactory economy, is for them to loan a significantly large amount of money – $60 billion over the period of three years – to them. Theoretically, this would enable the central bank to terminate the printing of Bolívar’s. This would, in theory, diminish the on going decrease of the Bolívar’s value – which has lost 99% of its value since 2013 (Bloomberg 2019). Similarly, replacing the national currency all together with a more stable currency – such as the US dollar – would be of benefit.
Another commonly identified flaw that Venezuela is victim of, is their reliance upon a single
