One Dollar Now Buys 103,000 Bolivars in Venezuela's Black Market

Venezuela’s currency is in free fall as hyperinflation intensifies and a recently unveiled plan to restructure foreign debt adds to a sense of chaos in Caracas. The rate in the black market -- the place where most Venezuelans acquire dollars in the authoritarian country -- weakened to 103,000 bolivars per greenback Friday, according to dolartoday.com, a website that tracks the data. That’s a 20 percent drop just this week and compared with a rate as low as 10,000 per dollar as recently as late July. The official government-set exchange rate -- which is virtually inaccessible -- is 10 bolivars per dollar.More…