Loading ...Venezuela ready to dump 80 tonnes of gold
With $5 billion in debt payments due before the end of the year, Caracas could be close to dumping more than 3 million ounces of its bullion reserves on the market
Venezuela’s economy has been devastated by the drop in oil prices which came on the back of years of financial mismanagement by the quasi-socialist government of the Latin American nation.
The next two months is crunch time for Venezuela with more than $5 billion in maturing debt and interest payments due before the end of the year.
Venezuela’s foreign exchange reserves are at a 12-year low as hard currency becomes scarcer and shortages of basic goods stirs up anger inside the country.
While its reserves total $15.35bn, less than $500 million are “liquid reserves” says a new note by Barclays reported by the FT “with the remainder in gold and borrowings from the IMF. All of which means Venezuela could find itself in a $10bn hole this quarter.”
Venezuela has the world’s 16th largest hoard of gold. At 361 tonnes as of the start of October the bullion represents 67.3% of the country’s reserves.
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