Close on the heels of a Friday announcement of a major devaluation of the bolivar, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that the government intends battling the country's booming currency black market with "heavy intervention."

The currency devaluation, which is aimed at propping up government finances and stimulating economic growth before this year's elections, has cut the "strong bolivar" currency by half for nearly all imports and transactions - from 2.15 per dollar to 4.3 per dollar.

Noting that the black market rate currently stands at almost VEF6.25 per dollar, Chavez added that the central bank of the country will also subsidize a stronger 2.6-per-dollar rate for imports of most essential items, including food and medicine.

The intervention of the government would diminish the relevance of the black market, with the inundation of the market with dollars to weaken the greenback, to bring the rate down to the official VEF4.3-per-dollar level. It will also boost "productive economy" and stimulate exports.

The currency devaluation move by the 55-year-old staunchly anti-US Chavez, who has been leading the country for almost 11 years, essentially is a gamble, resting on the supposition that the advantages of a weaker currency will counterbalance faster inflation.

Commending the move, analyst Maikel Bello, of the Caracas-based research firm Ecoanalitica, said that devaluation brings "more room to increase public spending as way to spur economic activity."