“When Francisco López heard that credit card payments started to increase” in Venezuela, “He didn’t hesitate to log into his online banking account to check if it was true. […] “Maybe things will look up,” he thought, hoping to get back to shopping like before. But the illusion was short-lived.”

At present, his credit is still 1 bolivar, that is, about 0.1 dollars, the medium says Efecto Cocuyo. While his cousin’s, which has been increased, barely reaches 40 dollars, enough to buy a pair of shoes.

In a country plunged into a severe economic crisis for almost a decade, which saw its GDP melt by 80%, bank loans “ceased to exist” since a long time. And while Venezuela is currently experiencing a mild economic recovery, fueled by de facto dollarization and easing of government controls on