Venezuela's new dual foreign exchange system, with one rate fixed at 10 bolivars to the dollar and another "floating" at a starting rate of 206 bolivars, will come into operation from Thursday, the vice president for economy said.
Miguel Perez, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, reiterated that the OPEC nation's socialist government was "religiously" honoring foreign debt payments and did not have solvency problems despite the current "economic emergency."
Venezuela last month made a $1.5 billion debt payment, but investors are fretting as to whether it will be able to pay state oil company PDVSA's heavier obligations later in the year.
"Venezuela does not have a solvency problem," Perez said. "We have a cash-flow problem."
The official said details of the new foreign exchange mechanism would be published on Thur sday, meaning the system would come into being from then.
The 10 bolivar rate at the newly-named Dipro system would be used for priority food and medicine sectors, Perez said.
The second, complementary system would be known as Dicom, he added, and would apply to most other areas, including the oil sector and - a controversial subject locally - foreign currency for Venezuelan tourists or students abroad.
The Dicom rate would start at 206 bolivars to the dollar, the same as the current Simadi mechanism, but then "fluctuate according to the country's economic dynamic," he said.
Venezuela previously had a three-tiered official currency control system.
On the black market, greenbacks currently fetch 1,145 bolivars, according to the widely-tracked DolarToday web site.
Critics note that the government has repeatedly announced "free-floating" systems that withered away precisely because authorities never allowed them to be determined by demand.
Currency and price controls have been a major factor in Venezuela's current economic mess, which includes snarling food lines, widespread shortages, and a lucrative smuggling trade.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Girish Gupta and Alistair Bell)
