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The said on Thursday it had told the a year ago that it would need new legislation to use a mandatory currency reserve, after announcing an effective end to the .

The central bank said that, while it had spent more than $800 million on fuel in the last month and the bill for medicines had multiplied, those goods were still absent from the open market, and being sold at prices that exceed their value.

"This proves the necessity of moving from subsidising commodities, which benefits traders and monopolists, to supporting citizens directly," the bank said.

(Reuters)