to have an indefinite life. Refer to the heading "Operations Review — Other Operating Charges" below and Note 16 and Note 17 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. 

Hyperinflationary Economies 

Our Company conducts business in more than 200 countries, some of which have been deemed to be hyperinflationary economies due to excessively high inflation rates in recent years. These economies create financial exposure to the Company. Venezuela was deemed to be a hyperinflationary economy subsequent to December 31, 2009. 

As of December 31, 2009, two main exchange rate mechanisms existed in Venezuela. The first exchange rate mechanism is known as the official rate of exchange ("official rate"), which is set by the Venezuelan government. In order to utilize the official rate, entities must seek approval from the government-operated Foreign Exchange Administration Board ("CADIVI"). As of December 31, 2009, the official rate set by the Venezuelan government was 2.15 bolivars per U.S. dollar. The second exchange rate mechanism was known as the parallel rate, which in some circumstances provided entities with a more liquid exchange through the use of a series of transactions via a broker. 

Subsequent to December 31, 2009, Venezuela was determined to be a hyperinflationary economy, and the Venezuelan government devalued the bolivar by resetting the official rate to 2.6 bolivars per U.S. dollar for essential goods and 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar for nonessential goods. In accordance with hyperinflationary accounting under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, our local subsidiary was required to use the U.S. dollar as its functional currency. As a result, we remeasured the net assets of our Venezuelan subsidiary using the official rate for nonessential goods of 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar. During the first quarter of 2010, we recorded a loss of $103 million related to the remeasurement of our Venezuelan subsidiary's net assets. The loss was recorded in the line item other income (loss) — net in our consolidated statement of income. We classified the impact of the remeasurement loss in the line item effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents in our consolidated statement of cash flows. 

In early June 2010, the Venezuelan government introduced a newly regulated foreign currency exchange system known as the Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities ("SITME"). This new system, which is subject to annual limits, replaced the parallel market whereby entities domiciled in Venezuela are able to exchange their bolivars to U.S. dollars through authorized financial institutions (commercial banks, savings and lending institutions, etc.). 

In December 2010, the Venezuelan government announced that it was eliminating the official rate of 2.6 bolivars per U.S. dollar for essential goods. As a result, there are currently only two exchange rates available for remeasuring bolivar-denominated transactions, the official rate of 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar for nonessential goods and the SITME rate. As discussed above, the Company has remeasured the net assets of our Venezuelan subsidiary using