"The parallel dollar is disruptive," he said during an interview on Jose Vicente Today, a TV show hosted by former Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

　　"We have to reform various laws," said Merentes, adding that the National Assembly, the country's legislature, is now working on the changes the government has proposed about the Illicit Exchanges Law and the Capital Market Law.

　　A bill crafted to make it easier for companies to import foreign currencies will be submitted to the assembly's finance committee in the next few weeks, the El Universal daily on Sunday quoted lawmaker Elvis Amoroso as saying.

　　Since 2002, Venezuela has had a mechanism that fixes the exchange rate at 6.30 bolivars to the dollar. In parallel, the Foreign Currency Management System holds dollar auctions, the latest of which saw the dollar sell for 10.3 bolivars.

　　However, the greenback can go for as much as six times the fixed official rate in the black market.