VENEZUELA SELLS BONDS TO CURB BLACK-MARKET DOLLAR
14 enero 2010
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Published by AFP-Yahoo! News
Caracas (AFP) – Venezuela's Central Bank has begun selling 50 million dollars' worth of bonds in a bid to curb the rising value of the unofficial "gray market dollar" after the national currency was devalued last week.
"To all those who've already begun trying to speculate with the so-called 'gray dollar:' they'll burn in your hands!" President Hugo Chavez said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Chavez on Friday announced that the bolivar would trade at 4.30 to the dollar for "non-essential" goods - double the present rate - and at a rate of 2.60 bolivars to the dollar for basic goods, in an election-year move aimed at favoring the poor.
He also said the Central Bank would "intervene" in the unofficial, parallel market to squelch speculation, after the 'gray dollar' soared to three times the official rate on a government decision last year to limit the dollar supply to offset losses from plunging oil prices.
"We're going to bring it down, and we're already doing so with the Central Bank's intervention," Chavez said, adding that the bank would continue "injecting dollars... as needed" into the economy.
The Central Bank on Wednesday began auctioning off dollar-denominated bonds against the national debt, at a fixed rate, it said on its website.
Exchange rates on the gray market are pegged to dollar denominated bonds issued by the Venezuelan government, which trade at far higher rates of exchange than the official rate set by the government since 2003.
It is legal, but Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez has said the government eventually aims to phase it out. Some factors surrounding its use are however illegal, such as publishing the unofficial rate.
Caracas (AFP) – Venezuela's Central Bank has begun selling 50 million dollars' worth of bonds in a bid to curb the rising value of the unofficial "gray market dollar" after the national currency was devalued last week.
"To all those who've already begun trying to speculate with the so-called 'gray dollar:' they'll burn in your hands!" President Hugo Chavez said in a televised speech on Wednesday.
Chavez on Friday announced that the bolivar would trade at 4.30 to the dollar for "non-essential" goods - double the present rate - and at a rate of 2.60 bolivars to the dollar for basic goods, in an election-year move aimed at favoring the poor.
He also said the Central Bank would "intervene" in the unofficial, parallel market to squelch speculation, after the 'gray dollar' soared to three times the official rate on a government decision last year to limit the dollar supply to offset losses from plunging oil prices.
"We're going to bring it down, and we're already doing so with the Central Bank's intervention," Chavez said, adding that the bank would continue "injecting dollars... as needed" into the economy.
The Central Bank on Wednesday began auctioning off dollar-denominated bonds against the national debt, at a fixed rate, it said on its website.
Exchange rates on the gray market are pegged to dollar denominated bonds issued by the Venezuelan government, which trade at far higher rates of exchange than the official rate set by the government since 2003.
It is legal, but Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez has said the government eventually aims to phase it out. Some factors surrounding its use are however illegal, such as publishing the unofficial rate.
