More petrodollars to central bank to cope with imports

In an attempt to boost the Central Bank of Venezuela's US dollar stock to pay for imports authorized by the Foreign Exchange Administration Board (Cadivi), Venezuelan state-run oil company Pdvsa has begun a revision of its legal framework.

Pdvsa President Rafael Ramírez recently announced that President Hugo Chávez authorized from Cuba a revision of the Law on Oil Windfall Revenues to improve the distribution of oil revenues and increase the amount of US dollars sold to the central bank.

In 2012, Pdvsa sold some USD 46.08 billion to the central bank. Upon the revision, the central bank's US dollar stock will spike USD 2.47 billion to USD 49 billion.

Ramírez stressed that the "Government has the capacity to earn the US dollars the economy needs." However, he added that there are speculative pressures "and we have to sell more US dollars to the central bank; the higher availability, the lower speculation."

Ramírez pointed out that the Pdvsa will not issue more bonds in US dollars. "It makes no sense to issue bonds in US dollars. That was for Sitme (the Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities).    

Translated by Jhean Cabrera