CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela is drafting a foreign currency allocation plan to decide which companies will be able to buy dollars at the official exchange rate in 2009, a new sign that the government could be expecting to have fewer dollars available next year if oil prices keep declining.

Venezuela Planning Minister Haiman El-Troudi told reporters Tuesday he's working on creating a so-called foreign currency budget for 2009 to outline which economic sectors will be first in line to buy greenbacks from the government at the official rate of 2.15 bolivars to the dollar.

The government's currency commission already gives priority to some sectors, such as food importers and the health care industry over others like car companies, following loose guidelines from the administration of President Hugo Chavez.

Under the new plan the government would set stricter rules to limit sales to companies and economic sectors that aren't viewed as a priority. The goal is to "align the administration's economic policy with its currency policy," El-Troudi said. The planning minister declined to say which sectors of the economy could be affected by the new scheme.

The new plan could seek to curb imports, which have more than tripled over the last four years. So far this year, the government has sold more than $40 billion through the Cadivi board.

After years of double-digit inflation, the official peg has led to a severely overvalued currency and a surge in imports. According to Ecoanalitica, a Caracas-based economic research firm, the peg should be 80% weaker to reflect the true value of the Venezuelan currency.

Several economists are predicting that the government will have difficulties maintaining the same level of dollar sales for imports at VEB2.15 to the dollar if oil prices keep declining.

Venezuela's basket of crude and refined products dropped last week by $6.54 to $54.55 a barrel, below the government's forecast of $60 a barrel in its 2009 budget.

Investors who can't get approval from the government's currency board to buy dollars at the official exchange rate turn to the black market to buy U.S. currency, where the dollar was weaker on Wednesday and traded at VEB4.8 compared with VEB5.1 a day earlier.

-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 212 905 6304; darcy.crowe@ dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  11-05-08 1704ET
  Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.