By Jose Aguiar
CARACAS, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The new international payment system announced by the Venezuelan government to counter U.S. economic sanctions is "indispensable," economist Luis Gavazut said on Sunday.
Gavazut spoke to Xinhua about the strategy President Nicolas Maduro announced earlier this week to move away from the U.S. dollar as the benchmark currency for international transactions.
On Thursday, Maduro said "Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar," by using the Russian ruble, the Chinese yuan, the Indian rupee, the euro and others.
"The matter of the payment system is indispensable. There is no other alternative than to do something, to innovate the country's payment procedures," given Washington's "financial embargo" against Venezuela in its latest sanctions, Gavazut said.
Gavazut said the sanctions, announced in late August, are designed to choke off Venezuela's access to the U.S. dollar, the standard currency used by countries around the globe for all kinds of transactions, including paying for imports.
The U.S. sanctions "make it very difficult for the Venezuelan government and all of its companies to carry out international trade transactions, including procuring, supplying, the ability to pay suppliers of international markets," said Gavazut.
Other countries that are not aligned with the United States "can also join" the initiative, said the economist, adding Caracas "will turn towards the Eurasian bloc."
The bloc has "substantial economic power" and the "capacity to ... channel international payments, which are now made through Western international financial systems," said the economist.
The idea is not new, but it is gaining ground, he said.
The move "is a very delicate one" from a geopolitical standpoint, "because it threatens the strategic interests of the United States," which has not ruled out a "military option" to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist party from power, he added.
The impact of Venezuela's decision remains to be seen.
"We have to wait for the technical details of how it is going to operate, to implement this basket of currencies the president talked about," said Gavazut.
As part of the strategy to minimize its reliance on the U.S. dollar, Venezuela has announced that it will no longer include the currency in its currency auctions.
