CARACAS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's government on Friday continued to post the price of its oil in Renminbi, China's official currency, in a bid to challenge the U.S. dollar's supremacy in the international market.
Venezuela's oil prices rose by "an average of 2.55 Chinese yuan," or more than 4 percent compared to last week's average price of 306.26 Chinese yuan (48.45 U.S. dollars) a barrel, the Oil and Mining Ministry said on its website.
Posting in yuan aims "to break our dependence on the dollar," the ministry added.
The slight uptick in prices was due to "signs of greater demand for oil and the prospect of potentially larger cutbacks in production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)" and other oil producers, the ministry said.
OPEC and allied oil producers agreed in December to voluntarily cutback output to shore up falling oil prices, and those cutbacks have amounted to nearly 1.8 million barrels a day, according to the ministry.
Earlier this month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro proposed moving away from the U.S. dollar as the benchmark currency for international transactions, in favor of accepting the euro, Renminbi, ruble and rupee, among other currencies.
"Venezuela is going to implement a new system of international payments and will create a basket of currencies to free us from the dollar," Maduro said at the time.
The move is also a response to U.S. economic sanctions against Venezuela designed to weaken Maduro's government by choking off its access to dollars.
