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Maduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse

On 20 August 2018 the government launched the “sovereign bolívar,” knocking five zeros off the currency and hiking the minimum wage during hyperinflation. In the causal graph this event strengthens the driver Income Inequality.

Maduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 20 August 2018 the government launched the “sovereign bolívar,” knocking five zeros off the currency and hiking the minimum wage during hyperinflation. Real wages continued to collapse.

Context

2016–17 collapse sat as parent. Neighbouring IMF 9 October is a child estimate. He did not sit as every bank teller.

2016 GDP leak is a parent. IMF 9 October 2018 is a child estimate. Dollarization 2022 is a much later child.

The President of Venezuela heads the national executive, commands FANB as commander-in-chief, appoints the cabinet, and can request enabling laws. He does not write an OFAC designation, an ICC Pre-Trial Chamber decision, or a Colombian migration statute. A CNE announcement is not an opposition acta and is not a Carter Center finding. Those three statuses stay on separate rows. An ICC investigation is not a conviction. An IMF figure is labelled as an estimate where BCV stopped publishing. Sanctions after 2017 and 2019 are an external causal factor; they do not erase the pre-2017 PDVSA-and-policy collapse.

Why it matters

The path is income inequality and public-debt sustainability: a completed reconversion during hyperinflation that did not restore real wages.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Nicolás Maduro

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.75 · verified

    He announced the package. BCV implemented. Minimum-wage hikes sat as a neighbour. IMF estimates are a later child print.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactMaduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse
    2. strengthensDriverIncome Inequality

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 20 August 2018 · verified

    A completed reconversion amid collapsing real wages is a dated inequality instrument.

    1. FactMaduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse
    2. weakensDriverPublic-Debt Sustainability
    3. strengthensIndicatorGlobal deaths from organized violence (UCDP)
    Improving path

    impact weight 0.5 · Effect from 20 August 2018 · verified

    Monetary reconversion during fiscal dominance is a dated debt-and-money-stock instrument.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Reuters — Venezuela launches sovereign bolívar in anti-inflation overhaulReuters · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Banco Central de Venezuela — 2022 inflation and exchange publications after the hyperinflation yearsBanco Central de Venezuela · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Banco Central de Venezuela carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

Established: 20 August 2018 reconversion, independently reported.

BCV implemented. Minimum-wage hikes sat as a neighbour. IMF estimates are a later child print.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Maduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse, not a later speech about Maduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He announced the package. BCV implemented. Minimum-wage hikes sat as a neighbour. IMF estimates are a later child print. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorNicolás Maduro
  2. contributed toFactMaduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse
  3. strengthensDrivers (2)Income Inequality

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Maduro launches the sovereign bolívar reconversion as real wages collapse. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/ve-income-2018

https://factrail.ai/facts/ve-income-2018

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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