CHANGE: Venezuela Eases Currency Controls Amid Economic Meltdown.

Venezuela repealed portions of laws governing foreign exchange, enabling businesses and individuals to swap money at designated trading houses and increasing access to hard currency after more than a decade of strict controls.

The changes passed by the politically omnipotent constituent assembly Thursday are to take effect Aug. 20, when the government is simultaneously planning to slash five zeroes off denominations of its near-worthless bolivar currency. Inflation that could reach 1 million percent this year and a deep depression have forced President Nicolas Maduro to begin dismantling a Byzantine system that has left citizens desperate for food and medicine.

Well, good. But it’s weird how the new Assembly’s wider powers failed to stem the country’s currency woes and they ended up having to inject a little capitalism back into the system.