Central Bank of Venezuela

Central Bank of Venezuela
Abbreviation BCV
Formation 8 September 1939 (1939-09-08)[1]
Type Governmental organization
Headquarters Caracas, Venezuela
Location
  • Avenida Urdaneta, Caracas 1010, Venezuela[2]
Key people
Calixto Ortega Sánchez
Website www.bcv.org.ve

The Central Bank of Venezuela (Spanish: Banco Central de Venezuela, BCV) is the central bank of Venezuela. It maintains a fixed exchange rate for the Venezuelan bolívar and since 1996 is the governing agent of the Clearing House System (including an Automated Clearing House).[3]

Actual laws

By law, the Central Bank of Venezuela is autonomous to formulate and exercise policies in its field of competence and it performs its duties and functions in coordination with the general economic policy.[4] The Constitution grants the central bank autonomy to outline and implement the policies.

The export, import or trade of Venezuelan or foreign currency are subject to the regulations established by the BCV, including the departure or arrival of coin and notes made by another countries by BCV's express order.[5]

Foreign Reserves

Since its inception in the late 30's, the BCV was given a clear mandate to control the monetary policy of the nation, centralizing the operations of a handful of private banks that used to mint the Venezuelan currency, the Bolivar. For almost 50 years the BCV managed to sustain a remarkable strong currency, with inflation rates hovering on the 2-3% mark during that period. However, since the oil glut of the 80's and the first serious devaluation of the currency in 1983 (known in Venezuela as 'Viernes Negro') the Bolivar has been plagued with chronic instability, mistrust and declining value that has been feed by the continued rise in inflation, topping an estimate for 2018 of one million percent (1.000.000%). Most of Foreign Reserves are in gold bars in Germany (almost 64%).[6]

Sitme

The Central Bank is able to issue bonds through the "SITME" market. In 2012, it was reported that $44 million worth of bonds were purchased through SITME in a single day for Petroleos de Venezuela SA.[7]

Sicad

Until 2015 an "Ancillary Foreign Currency Administration System" or Sicad operated as an alternative FX system for businesses and individuals. Given its ineffectiveness and the continued rise of the parallel -black market- exchange rate the system was discontinued in favor of the "Complementary Currency System", known for its Spanish acronym DICOM.[8]

Current situation: Hyperinflation

Since December 2017 Venezuela the CPI has presented a behavior that fits most of the definitions for hyperinflation, the first in the country's history. The bank, subject to a strong control by the Executive Branch of the Venezuelan Government, has ceased the publication of metrics such as the CPI and Gross Domestic Product variation, creating a vacuum that has left investors and the public on a general state of disarray.

Presidents of the Central Bank of Venezuela

President from until
Jesús Herrera Mendoza19401948
Carlos Mendoza Goiticoa19481953
Aurelio Arreaza Arreaza19531958
Alfonso Espinosa19581960
Alfredo Machado Gómez19611968
Benito Raúl Losada19681971
Alfredo Lafée19711976
Benito Raúl Losada19761979
Carlos Rafael Silva19791981
Leopoldo Díaz Bruzual19811984
Benito Raúl Losada19841986
Hernán Anzola19861987
Mauricio García Araujo19871989
Pedro R. Tinoco, hijo19891992
Miguel Rodríguez Fandeo1992
Ruth de Krivoy19921994
Antonio Casas González19941999
Diego Luis Castellanos20002005
Gastón Parra Luzardo20052009
Nelson Merentes Díaz20092013
Edmée Betancourt2013
Eudomar Tovar20132014
Nelson Merentes Díaz[9]20142017
Ricardo Sanguino[10]2017
Ramón Augusto Lobo Moreno[11]20172018
Calixto Ortega Sánchez2017present

See also

References

  1. "Company Overview of Banco Central de Venezuela BCV". Bloomberg News. 27 January 2018. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Banco Central de Venezuela was formed in 1939 and is headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela.
  2. "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  3. Reyes-Torres, Eddy (22 August 1996). "Automated Clearing House". Central Bank of Venezuela. Archived from the original on 15 June 2002. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Similarly, in those Clearing Houses in which automated mechanisms of clearing or exchange of checks cannot be established, the use of diskettes may be dispensed with or substituted by some other mean.
  4. Maduro-Moros, Nicolas (30 December 2015). "DECREE WITH THE RANK, VALUE AND FORCE OF LAW OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF VENEZUELA" (PDF). Central Bank of Venezuela. Archived from the original (pdf) on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. Serpa, Ana-Carolina (7 January 2016). "New Law of the Venezuelan Central Bank". Norton Rose Fulbright, Global law firm. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2018. The New BCV Law provides a series of reforms among which we would highlight the following: Authorization for the arrival and departure from the territory of monetary species representatives of the bolivar
  6. Pons, Corina (5 February 2016). "Exclusive: Venezuela central bank in talks with Deutsche Bank on gold swap". Reuters. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Around 64 percent of Venezuela’s $15.4 billion in foreign reserves are held in gold bars, which limits President Nicolas Maduro’s government’s ability to quickly mobilize hard currency for imports or debt service.
  7. Cancel, Daniel (23 August 2012). "Venezuela Sells Record $44 Million PDVSA 2035 Bonds in Sitme". Bloomberg.
  8. "UPDATE 1-Venezuelan central bank sells $215 mln at currency auction". Reuters. 17 July 2013.
  9. "Oficializan designación de Nelson Merentes como presidente del Banco Central de Venezuela". El Nacional (Caracas). 22 January 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  10. "Venezuela President Maduro names new central bank chief". Deutsche Welle. 23 January 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced during his weekly broadcast Sunday that economist Ricardo Sanguino was nominated to replace Nelson Merentes as the country's central bank chief.
  11. Laya, Patricia (26 October 2017). "Maduro Taps Finance Minister as Venezuela Central Bank Head". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2018. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appointed Finance Minister Ramon Lobo as the country’s new central bank president, replacing Ricardo Sanguino.

Coordinates: 10°30′36″N 66°54′55″W / 10.5100°N 66.9152°W / 10.5100; -66.9152


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.