Foreign currency to be sold by Venezuela's state-owned banks

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

According to Currency Administration Commission (Cadavi) president Edgar Hernandez, once Venezuela resumes the sale of foreign currency it will be initially only done through state-owned banks. "The objective is to open currency operations as quickly as possible."

• The two banks that will initially make foreign currency one again available are Banco Industrial (BIV) and Banfoandes.

This follows the signing of agreements with the two banks and Hernandez says similar agreements are expected to be signed with privately-owned banks some time next week.

Trading is expected to resume this week, with the bolivar pegged to the US dollar at Bs.1,600.00 / Bs.1,596.00. To obtain large amounts of foreign currency businesses will have to apply to Cadavi and application processing times are expected to be around three to four days.