International Trade
Cargo that has arrived
at Puerto Cabello:
- 201,748 tons of paddy rice,
yellow corn, bread wheat, barley and plaster for state agency Corporación
de Servicios y Abastecimientos Agrícolas (CASA)
- 44,832 tons of rice, coffee,
beans, meat, milk, margarine and chicken for state agency CASA
- 2,540 tons of ham and other
products of the holiday season for state agency CASA
- 254 tractors from Brasil
- 34 containers of rice for state
agency CASA
- 83 containers of milk for state
agency CASA
- 44 containers of de margarine
for state agency CASA
- 205 containers of chicken for
state agency CASA
- 205 containers of beef for state
agency CASA
Cargo that has arrived at Bolipuertos La
Guaira:
- 30,000 tons of corn from México
More in Spanish: (Bolipuertos, http://www.bolipuertos.gob.ve/noticia.aspx?id=33889)
Prices on imports brought into Venezuela using
private dollars must be calculated at SIMADI rates
Executive Vice
President Jorge Arreaza says that all merchants using their own US$ currency in
order to import products "must use
the SIMADI dollar as a reference for setting prices. They will never again
steal from the people." In view of this, most importers have paralyzed
privately funded import operations. More in Spanish: (Ultimas
Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/importaciones-con-dolares-propios-deberan-calcular.aspx#ixzz3pwuXjvbZ; El Mundo, http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/politica/arreaza--el-pueblo-es-factor-clave-para-hacer-cump.aspx; http://www.elmundo.com.ve/noticias/economia/politica/importaciones-con-dolares-propios-deberan-calcular.aspx)
Oil &
Energy
Maduro: "We produce oil and speculators price it"
President Nicolás Maduro has referred to oil
matters and stressed that unrealistic prices are imposed on oil. He says that
once again he will bring forward his proposal of implementing a scale to
calculate the price of crude oil to other oil producing countries. He expects
international support, and will a visit Saudi Arabia in the context of the
Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of South America – Arab
Countries (ASPA) on November 3-5, to insist on his proposal to recover the
price of crude oil. (El
Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/economia/151028/maduro-we-produce-oil-and-speculators-price-it)
Venezuela and Trinidad will jointly explore gas
deposits in their
common border, says Foreign Affairs Minister Delcy Rodríguez on Monday.
(Veneconomy, http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=45955&idc=4)
Economy
& Finance
Venezuela is selling
off gold reserves, PDVSA makes US$ 1.4 billion bond payment
In a sign of how Venezuela is growing
increasingly desperate to acquire hard currency, a report released this week
showed the country has been stepping up its sales of gold. The value of the Central
Bank’s bullion holdings fell 28% at the end of May from a year earlier, while
the spot price for the metal declined just 12%. The figures, while reflecting
transactions that took place five months ago, underscore the efforts the
government is taking to raise the cash to repay creditors and fund imports. With
US$ 3.5 billion of bond payments due this week and next, international reserves
are hovering near a 12-year low of US$ 15.2 billion, including gold holdings
that totaled US$ 11.8 billion at the end of May. Venezuela had about US$ 42
billion of total assets -- including off-budget funds -- at the end of the
third quarter, of which US$ 15 billion was liquid, says Barclays economist
Alejandro Arreaza. He said liquid assets will fall to about US$ 8 billion by
year end. The country and its state oil company PDVSA have US$ 12 billion in
bond payments coming due next year. “The
Bolivarian government has met all its international commitments, despite
domestic and international attacks,” Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres
said Wednesday, after PDVSA paid US$ 1.4 billion of maturing bonds. A US$ 2.05
billion amortization payment on the PDVSA 2017 bond is due at the start of
November. General Marco says. PDVSA has made US$ 5 billion in bond payments
over the last 15 days. (Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/venezuela-is-selling-off-its-gold-reserves-as-bond-payments-loom;
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/28/venezuela-bonds-idUSL1N12S04920151028;
Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/28/venezuela-pdvsa-bond-idUSL1N12S1PU20151028)
...and again shows doomsayers may be wrong
Over the past year, no shortage of bond
investors and analysts have predicted a Venezuela default. Just last week,
Loomis Sayles & Co. and Ice Canyon LLC joined the fray, saying the
country, rocked by the plunge in oil prices, would likely halt debt
payments next year. Yet the cash-strapped nation has managed to stay current on
its notes. Bond prices show investors increasingly expect Venezuela’s
state-owned oil company to pay US$ 4.3 billion due over the next month and the
government to make good on payments of $2.1 billion due in February. After
that, the country wouldn’t have another foreign debt payment on principal until
August 2016. (Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-27/venezuela-avoiding-default-again-shows-doomsayers-may-be-wrong)
Proposed 2016 budget is 47.8% lower than that of
2015's - in dollars
The 2016 budget
currently being voted on by National Assembly is 47.8% less than total
resources budgeted for this year, when estimated at the SIMADI VEB 200/US$ 1
official rate. The 2016 projected budget is for VEB 1.5 billion, which is US$
7.74 billion at the official SIMADI rate, which applies to all transactions
other than imports carried out by the National Foreign Trade Center (CENCOEX).
More in Spanish: (El
Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/economia/Presupuesto-calculado-dolares-menor_0_728327368.html)
Maduro regime is suing
DolarToday
The government of Nicolás Maduro insists on
blaming a third party for the disaster caused by its foreign exchange policy.
Now the Central Bank of Venezuela is suing DolarToday before a U.S. court. As
is known, DolarToday is a financial blog run by Venezuelan residents in the
U.S. that publishes a free-market exchange rate based on daily transactions of
bolivars and Colombian pesos taking place in Cúcuta, Colombia.
The lawsuit is based on the assumption that the information published by DolarToday on the value of the dollar sold on the parallel market has exacerbated inflation in Venezuela and further devalued the bolívar currency. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2398869&CategoryId=10717)
The lawsuit is based on the assumption that the information published by DolarToday on the value of the dollar sold on the parallel market has exacerbated inflation in Venezuela and further devalued the bolívar currency. (Latin American Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2398869&CategoryId=10717)
Politics and
International Affairs
Ex-prosecutor speaks
out on Lopez 'sham trial', regime
claims the US is behind his statements
A former Venezuelan prosecutor has accused the
government of jailing an opposition leader "because they feared his leadership". Franklin Nieves, who
prosecuted Leopoldo Lopez, said in Miami after leaving Venezuela that Lopez was
innocent and the evidence against him was false. Nieves is reportedly seeking
asylum in the United States. Asked if Lopez should be free, the former
prosecutor said: "Yes, indeed,
because after examining each and every piece of evidence it was shown that this
person had at no point made even a single call to violence." Asked why
he had not spoken out before Lopez was sentenced to 13 years and nine months in
prison, Nieves said that he had remained silent "out of fear and because of the pressure exerted by each one of our
bosses on prosecutors working at the national level". He then
explained that the pressure filtered down from President Nicolas Maduro and
National Assembly President Captain Diosdado Cabello through the Prosecutor
General to individual line managers who got prosecutors to act "on the whims" of the authorities. Nieves
went on to allege that he was instructed to arrest Lopez to "take him out of the political game"
and that the order came from President Maduro. He also alleged that the case of
Lopez was not unique: "There are
innumerable cases in which people were investigated and innocent people
detained," he said. Venezuelan Prosecutor
General Luisa Ortega dismissed Nieves' allegations, saying that "at the state prosecutors' office we don't
pressure anyone". She added that Nieves had given in to "pressures from foreign and domestic elements"
although she did not specify what pressures those were. But Minister of Foreign
Affairs Delcy Rodríguez referred to statements by Nieves saying: "The way the US blackmails, threatens, and
buys off public prosecutors in Latin America to hinder justice and satisfy its
interests is vulgar", and rejected remarks by US State Department
spokesperson John Kirby who previously said: "If true, these statements highlight the lack of judicial independence
and adherence to due process in Venezuela." For his part, the
´government's People's Defender Tarek William Saab said that what Nieves said
regarding the López trial "is not on
the record, it simply doesn't exist". (BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34656748;
Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/judge-who-helped-jail-venezuela-s-lopez-says-case-was-fabricated;
El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/151028/ex-public-prosecutor-govt-seeks-to-take-lopez-out-of-the-political-gam;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/151028/venezuelan-fm-the-us-buys-off-public-prosecutors-in-latam;
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/151028/saab-declaraciones-de-franklin-nieves-no-existen; El Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/politica/Defensor-Saab-validez-denuncias-Nieves_0_727727466.html)
Maduro and Defense Minister criticize remarks by
US Southern Command Chief on Venezuela
President Nicolás Maduro has criticized the
recent statements by the Chief of the US Southern Command, John Kelly, about
Venezuela's situation. Kelly referred to an alleged "humanitarian crisis" in Venezuela and noted that the US would
taken action on Venezuela "only if
we are asked to do so" through international bodies. He also voiced
concern over factors such as "an
inflation rate of 200%." For his part, Maduro labeled Kelly as "a loser," because drug trafficking
has grown in the US. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino expressed "profound indignation", at Kelly's
statements that Venezuela is "on the
point of implosion", and called them "a new and proof irrefutable proof
imperialist intervention". (El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/151028/maduro-criticizes-remarks-of-us-southern-command-chief-on-venezuela;
and more in Spanish: El Universal, http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/151029/fanb-rechaza-injerencia-del-comando-sur-de-eeuu; AVN; http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/alto-mando-fanb-expres%C3%B3-rechazo-nuevas-declaraciones-injerencistas-imperiales; El Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/politica/declaraciones-John-Kelly-chavismo-rechazo_0_728327384.html)
Former Planning Minister Ricardo Hausmann’s
attorneys have filed a complaint at the Prosecutor General’s Office
on Monday against National Assembly’s Chief Diosdado Cabello, for the unlawful
broadcast of a private conversation, simulation of a crime, incitement to
hatred and to collective anxiety and instigation to commit a crime. This, in
reaction to the audio broadcast by Cabello in his VTV weekly show. (Veneconomy,
http://www.veneconomy.com/site/index.asp?ids=44&idt=45953&idc=1)
Polar CEO Lorenzo Mendoza says he will not
leave the country
Polar Enterprises
President Lorenzo Mendoza says he will not leave Venezuela after being
denounced to the Prosecutor General by the pro government faction of the
National Assembly for "treason,
usurping functions and collusion to commit a crime". "I live here with my family, I will always
live here with my family, I'm not going anywhere", he said -
surrounded by cheering employees and workers - and promised to respond with
"more work and commitment"
against what he called a "continuous
and increasing harassment" by authorities. More in Spanish: . (El Nacional, http://www.el-nacional.com/economia/Lorenzo-Mendoza-descarto-dejar-pais_0_727727385.html)
Guyana rules out
giving Venezuela access to Atlantic waters
Guyanese President David Granger has ruled out
giving Venezuela access to the Atlantic as part of any settlement of the border
dispute over Essequibo region. “We cannot
sell out. We cannot give away. We cannot offer the adversary any corridor or
any passage,” Granger said on Tuesday after the successful completion of
Exercise Greenheart, a tactical exercise in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni area in Region
Seven. The president’s comments came days after former President Bharrat Jagdeo
announced that his administration had considered a negotiated settlement to the
dispute with Venezuela that would have seen Guyana retain all of Essequibo
region in keeping with the 1899 arbitration decision while allowing its western
neighbor access to the Atlantic Ocean off Essequibo. (Latin American Herald
Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2398901&CategoryId=10717)
Maduro plans to meet with Colombia´s Santos
President Nicolás Maduro says he expects to
meet with his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos during the next few
days. Maduro reports he had a telephone call with Santos and agreed to a
meeting soon, to discuss proposals to create a frontier of peace. "We have proposals ready on military affairs,
on fuel, to legalize the entire procedure for buying and selling fuel".
More in Spanish: (Ultimas Noticias, http://www.ultimasnoticias.com.ve/noticias/actualidad/politica/maduro-anuncia-proxima-reunion-con-santos.aspx#ixzz3pr5VAN2J)
The following brief is a synthesis of the news
as reported by a variety of media sources. As such, the views and opinions
expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Duarte Vivas & Asociados and
The Selinger Group.
