CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told Cable News Network on Monday that his government has no plans to devalue the country's currency or implement economic policy changes despite the collapse in oil prices.
"We have no need to devalue the currency. I'm talking about the short-term. In the-long term it's difficult to predict," Chavez said in an interview with CNN's Spanish-language channel.
Venezuela pegs its currency to the dollar at 2.15 bolivars, a rate which economists say severely overvalues the local currency.
He insisted his government didn't plan to raise taxes to increase state revenue or implement other economic policy changes as an answer to the decline in the price of oil, which accounts for 50% of the government's revenue.
Chavez, who is campaigning for a constitutional amendment to eliminate term limits that would give him a chance of staying in power beyond 2013, said that even if the proposal was defeated in a Feb. 15 referendum, the constitution still allows "for different forms to make changes" such as "a constitutional assembly."
-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 212 905 6304; darcy.crowe@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-03-09 0953ET
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