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 the official rate for nonessential goods of 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar since January 1, 2010. Therefore, the elimination of the official rate for essential goods had no impact on the remeasurement of the net assets of our Venezuelan subsidiary. We continue to use the official exchange rate for nonessential goods to remeasure the financial statements of our Venezuelan subsidiary. If the official exchange rate devalues further, it would result in our Company recognizing additional foreign currency exchange losses in our consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2011, our Venezuelan subsidiary held monetary assets of $300 million. 

In addition to the foreign currency exchange exposure related to our Venezuelan subsidiary's net assets, we also sell concentrate to our bottling partner in Venezuela from outside the country. These sales are denominated in U.S. dollars. Some of our concentrate sales were approved by the CADIVI to receive the official rate for essential goods of 2.6 bolivars per U.S. dollar prior to the elimination of the official rate for essential goods in December 2010. Prior to the elimination of the official rate for essential goods, our bottling partner in Venezuela was able to convert bolivars to U.S. dollars to settle our receivables related to sales approved by the CADIVI. However, if we are unable to utilize a government-approved exchange rate mechanism to settle future concentrate sales to our bottling partner in Venezuela, the Company's outstanding receivables balance related to these sales will continue to increase. In addition, we have certain intangible assets associated with products sold in Venezuela. If we are unable to utilize a government- approved exchange rate mechanism for concentrate sales, or if the bolivar further devalues, it could result in the impairment of these intangible assets. As of December 31, 2011, the carrying value of our accounts receivable from our bottling partner in Venezuela and intangible assets associated with products sold in Venezuela was $147 million. The revenues and cash flows associated with concentrate sales to our bottling partner in Venezuela in 2012 are not anticipated to be significant to the Company's consolidated financial statements. 

Pension Plan Valuations 

Our Company sponsors and/or contributes to pension and postretirement health care and life insurance benefit plans covering substantially all U.S. employees. We also sponsor nonqualified, unfunded defined benefit pension plans for certain associates and participate in multi-employer pension plans in the United States. In addition, our Company and its subsidiaries have various pension plans and other forms of postretirement arrangements outside the United States. 

Management is required to make certain critical estimates related to actuarial assumptions used to determine our pension expense and related obligation. We believe the most critical assumptions are related to (1) the discount rate used to determine the