A 1% – 2% increase in tax on Major Financial Transactions will come into effect November 18. In this way, the Maduro administration hopes to raise tax revenues to deliver on its economic recovery plan and promote development in Venezuela.

The amendment to the tax was passed by the National Constituent Assembly August 21 and enacted by the Executive branch August 23. The measure, published in Official Gazette No. 6,396, first put the tax rate at 1%, pending the Executive branch finalizing the figure. This week, Maduro announced the tax rate will be 2%, not 1% as initially indicated.

The Recovery, Growth and Economic Prosperity Plan is a Maduro-driven initiative to resolve the grave economic crisis engulfing the country since last year. Other important developments in recent weeks are the start of the sale of the cryptocurrency Petro in sovereign bolivars (the official Venezuelan currency), the replacement of the dollar by the euro as the reference currency in the exchange market, and an announcement that private banks must adhere to an online government platform.