Free cars if you turn in your gas guzzler! And free gas for a year!

Socialist leader Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has offered free cars to his government controlled citizens if they turn in there gas guzzling cars. And he will even throw in a free year of gas. Here are some fun facts about Venezuela.

In 2007, while Venezuela earned record proceeds from oil exports, consumers faced at times shortages of foodstuffs, since the companies refuse to sell at a loss, a consequence of the consumer prices set by the government which are lower than the production costs. The price for a liter of gas in Venezuela is 3 cents (12 cents a gallon), the cheapest in the world. The East African nation of Eritrea is home to the most expensive, gas there costs $2.50 per liter. The government has responded by giving importers more dollars at the official exchange rate. Imports soared 43% in 2007 after trpling from 2004 to 2007. The account surplus fell almost in half to $8.8 billion even as near record high oil prices buoyed exports. The Annual inflation has risen to 16%, the highest in the Americas, as President Chavez tripled government spending from 2003 to 2007. The Venezuelan government announced on March 7, 2007 that the Venezuelan Bolivar will be redenominated at a ratio of 1 to 1000 on January 1, 2008and renamed the bolívar fuerte, in an effort to facilitate the ease of transactioning and accounting, in addition to a 14% devaluation of the bolivar in the first quarter of 2008. The strong bolivar has an exchange rate of 2.15 per US$. It was predicted that the official rate will decline 13% by the end of 2008.

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