Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that his country would raise the price of heavily subsidized gasoline by October as the government seeks to strengthen its coffers amid hyperinflation accelerating a massive economic collapse. Despite the country's crisis, fuel prices are as low as $ 1 per 400,000 gallons of fuel.
Maduro said the government would launch a new payment system using a state-backed ID card in the Border States to curb smuggling, and prices would rise to international standards once the system is in place.
Any increase would be the first in 20 years, which has been a sensitive issue since the outbreak of the 1989 riots in response to austerity measures, including high gasoline prices.
Government regulations have kept prices steady at the pump, although inflation is expected to rise to 1,000,000 percent this year, according to IMF estimates.
