The United States revealed today that it is working with other countries to create a fund of 10 billion dollars, in order to help a future new government in Venezuela to rebuild its capacity to trade with the world.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the announcement in a statement to a small group of journalists at the end of their participation in the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), according to the newspaper The Wall Street Journal
“We are going to work to try to form a consortium of around 10 billion dollars in trade financing that would be available to the new government, to spur commerce,” Mnuchin said.
The Treasury minister did not specify what other countries plan to contribute to that measure, but this week the US participated in a meeting on how to support the economic recovery in Venezuela together with finance ministers from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and others, recalls the “Journal”.
Mnuchin also said he had begun talks with the IMF and the WB about the possibility of providing financial support to Venezuela.
However, the rules of the Fund prevent the agency from offering such assistance to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who was proclaimed president last January after declaring illegitimate the new term of Nicolás Maduro, while there is no consensus among its members on whether they recognize him.
More than 50 countries, including the United States, have recognized Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, but some powerful nations, such as Russia and China, continue to back Maduro.
“We can only be guided by the members, it is not a matter of our decision, it must be a vast majority of our members that diplomatically recognizes the authorities that they consider legitimate,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said today. , at a press conference.
“There are some members examining their position, and as soon as that happens and we can identify the authorities, we are prepared to act, and deploy all our resources if we are asked to help, along with other” agencies, he added.
Lagarde said this week in an interview with Efe that, once the current political crisis concludes, “Venezuela will need enormous help” to overcome its economic situation, with an estimated contraction for 2019 of 25% and an inflation of more than 10,000,000. %.
Some analysts consulted by Efe put the possible rescue package of the IMF and other institutions to stabilize the Venezuelan economy at least 60,000 million dollars.
