The Venezuelan government hopes to encourage more foreign investment and a better relationship with the business community, President Nicolas Maduro stated yesterday.
Today members of the government held a press conference to inform the public about the new system for buying foreign currency. Called the Complimentary System of Foreign Currency Acquirement (Sicad), interim president Nicolas Maduro said it aims to “overcome the parallel market”.
There has been much debate in Venezuela over the causes and likely consequences of last Friday’s currency devaluation, while the concrete political and economic impact remains to be seen.
The Venezuelan government has devaluated the official exchange rate between the Bolivar Fuerte and the US dollar by 32%, from 4.3 BsF to 6.3 BsF to the dollar.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro met on Monday with the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patiño, to evaluate the progress of their country’s bilateral agreements.
Inflation dropped in June, though the first half of the year experienced significantly higher inflation than last year. In the same period, government bodies approved substantially more dollar allocations. Also, two people were arrested for attempting to destabilise the banking system using Twitter.
Sudeban, Venezuela’s independent bank and financial institutions regulator passed a resolution last week to prohibit financial operations and transactions with off-shore banks in countries that apply little regulation.
In the midst of an overhaul of the bond trading regulations meant to stop inflation in the unofficial dollar market, the Venezuelan government stepped up its administrative oversight of brokerage firms.
At today’s meeting of the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) President Chávez did not waste any time reminding the beleaguered Venezuelan stock brokers that he would have no problem closing them all if they did not step into line.
After president Hugo Chavez signed the reform to the law against illicit exchange on Sunday and it came into effect Tuesday, the government has now temporarily suspended foreign currency bond trading.
