The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro announced that the minimum wage in the country will be pegged to the value of half Petro (PTR), the national cryptocurrency of Venezuela. The monthly minimum wage will go up 18 times to around 26 bolivars ($28) by pegging it to the value of half PTR.
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Maduro said that the proposal to set the workers' basic minimum wage to peg to petro pushes all salary amounts upwards. The decision is a part of the steps taken to improve the country's economic situation.
The president announced that he has instructed Delcy Rodriguez, the Vice President to hold talks with the private sector so that employees see the pay increase starting from this month. The raise also refers to social security pensioners.
Maduro mentioned that the private sector already pays higher salaries and he proposed to discuss and find a sustainable way to increase salaries continuously.Petro, PTR is the national crypto launched by the Venezuelan government in 2018 to overcome the economic challenges the country has faced as a result of international sanctions against it. Petro runs on the DASH blockchain and it is supposedly backed by the country's reserves including oil and natural gas to maintain stability.