El Salvador introduces a $ 0.20 per gallon fuel subsidy for wealthy locals

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has announced that local consumers can cut gasoline prices to $ 0.20 per gallon if they pay with a government-backed bitcoin wallet Chivo.

The president described the news as “positive news for the pockets of Salvadorans” and announced the subsidy on September 30th on Twitter. According to a rough translation, said Bukele specified:

“State-owned Chivo has negotiated with the largest gas station companies in our country to have their gas stations sell $ 0.20 cheaper every gallon of fuel in Chivo’s wallet starting tomorrow.”

Bukele emphasizes that the discount is unlimited and that any local person or company can access the discount. He added that the price cuts would “eliminate some international fuel price increases” and “reduce transportation costs in the supply chain”.

However, some Salvadorans don’t seem convinced that the subsidy will ultimately benefit the public, with Twitter user Adan_3840 answer:

“That 20 cents will come from all of us, right? The petrol station does not work, there is a refund after paying the pedestrian tax. “

Others are skeptical of the government’s decision to offer discounts only to those who pay in Chivo using a different Twitter account question Why didn’t the government cut fuel prices a day earlier?

Along with the news, Bukele also announced that he had approved a fund to “stabilize” the price of liquefied natural gas in the country. The president claimed that while the international market had planned to raise the price of £ 25 liquefied gas cylinders by $ 1.17, Salvadorans would “cut costs a little”.

He added that the government would only accept the increase for one year, pointing out that any decrease in global gas prices during that time would be passed on to consumers.

Related: El Salvador President teases Bitcoin geothermal mining farm

El Salvador became the first country to legally recognize Bitcoin as legal tender on September 7th. Later that month, Bukele claimed that a third of Salvadorans were using chivo less than three weeks after it was first introduced.

Viewers, however, have been skeptical of Bukele’s reports on the surge in crypto adoption, with outspoken crypto critic and author David Gerard claiming that Salvadoran authorities “provide Bukele numbers he likes” and “broken on the slightest test.” will”.

In his Attack on the 50-foot blockchain In the newsletter, Gerard analyzed the Chivo usage metrics reported by Bukele and concluded that the government-backed wallet “would do more transactions than Visa globally” if the president’s details were correct.