Central Bank of Venezuela

Since its inception in the late 1930s, 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 bolívar. 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.

{{See also|United Kingdom–Venezuela relations#Control of gold in London}}

However, since the oil glut of the 1980s and the first serious devaluation of the currency in 1983 (known in Venezuela as Viernes Negro, or Black Friday) the bolívar has been plagued with chronic instability, mistrust and declining value that has been fed by the continued rise in inflation, topping an estimate for 2018 of one million per cent. Most of the foreign reserves are held as gold bars in Germany (almost 64%).{{cite web |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-exclusive/exclusive-venezuela-central-bank-in-talks-with-deutsche-bank-on-gold-swap-idUSKCN0VE1AT |title= Exclusive: Venezuela central bank in talks with Deutsche Bank on gold swap |access-date= 27 January 2018 |last= Pons |first= Corina |date= 5 February 2016 |work= Reuters |language=English |quote= 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. |archive-url= https://archive.today/20180127233614/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-exclusive/exclusive-venezuela-central-bank-in-talks-with-deutsche-bank-on-gold-swap-idUSKCN0VE1AT |archive-date= 27 January 2018 |url-status= live }}

Until 2015 the Supplementary System for the Administration of Foreign Currency (SICAD) operated as an alternative foreign exchange 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.{{cite news| url=http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N0FN2DL20130717?irpc=932 | work=Reuters | title=UPDATE 1-Venezuelan central bank sells $215 mln at currency auction | date=17 July 2013}}

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 in a general state of disarray.

In April 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Central Bank of Venezuela "to prevent it from being used as a tool of the illegitimate Maduro regime".{{Cite news|url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm661/|title=Treasury Sanctions Central Bank of Venezuela and Director of the Central Bank of Venezuela|date=17 April 2019|work=U.S. Department of the Treasury|access-date=2 December 2019}}

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.{{cite web |url= http://www.bcv.org.ve/c3/lawbcv2015.pdf |title= DECREE WITH THE RANK, VALUE AND FORCE OF LAW OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF VENEZUELA |access-date = 27 January 2018 |last= Maduro-Moros |first= Nicolas |date= 30 December 2015 |website= Central Bank of Venezuela |language = English |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180127235042/http://www.bcv.org.ve/c3/lawbcv2015.pdf |archive-date= 27 January 2018

}} The Constitution grants the central bank autonomy to outline and implement the policies. However, as of 2016, reforms deemed unconstitutional by some effectively nullified the BCV's independent status.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/bf9250d6-b35a-11e5-b147-e5e5bba42e51|title=Venezuela central bank curbs fuel fears over hyperinflation|website=Financial Times|date=5 January 2016|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-01-04}}

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.{{cite web

|url= http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/135274/new-law-of-the-venezuelan-central-bank

|title= New Law of the Venezuelan Central Bank

|access-date= 27 January 2018

|last= Serpa

|first= Ana-Carolina

|date= 7 January 2016

|website= Norton Rose Fulbright, Global law firm

|language= english

|quote= 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

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160919104940/http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/135274/new-law-of-the-venezuelan-central-bank

|archive-date= 19 September 2016

|url-status= live

}}

The Central Bank is able to issue bonds through the System for Transactions with Foreign Currency Securities (SITME). In 2012, it was reported that $44 million worth of bonds were purchased through SITME in a single day for Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-23/venezuela-sells-record-44-million-pdvsa-2035-bonds-in-sitme-1-.html | work=Bloomberg | first=Daniel | last=Cancel | title=Venezuela Sells Record $44 Million PDVSA 2035 Bonds in Sitme | date=23 August 2012}}

{{Portal|Banks}}

• Venezuela and the International Monetary Fund
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