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The Venezuelan bolivar has been in free fall over the past few weeks, even though the government last week adjusted the wide disparity between the official and black market rates.

Simon Bolivar, at right, on the namesake Venezuelan bill, here stapled to a Key West bait shop wall. Dimitra DeFotis for Barron's

Venezuela's closed economy is struggling largely because the country, an OPEC member, is running low on cash from oil sales to pay debts. Nomura Securities' Siobhan Morden, head of Latin American fixed income strategy, says the recent rise in oil prices "provides intermittent relief and an estimated $1.9 billion in annualized extra revenues that may or may not balance the financing gap for next year." She adds: