International reserves up 2.56 percent to USD 29.9 billion

Economy
Venezuela's international reserves stood at USD 29.99 billion, by Monday this week, for an increase of 2.56 percent, (USD 750 million) compared to May 22, when it reached USD 29.24 billion, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) reported.

The total amount includes USD 29.16 billion deposited in the BCV and USD 829 million in the Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund (FEM), set up in 1998 and aimed at maintaining the necessary fiscal, monetary and exchange rate balance despite major fluctuations of the Venezuelan oil revenues.

The FEM, which was previously known as the Investment Fund for Macroeconomic Stabilization (FIEM) is fed by the difference between the price of the Venezuelan oil basket and the goal for sale price established in the Venezuelan budget.

Every three months, the BCV and the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) review the price and if it is similar or higher than the average price in the last five years, the difference is deposited in the fund, the state-run news agency Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) reported.

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IISS: The FARC financed Chávez before 1999

10:07 AM. DIPLOMACY. Admired by the Colombian guerrilla after his coup attempt in 1992, the then lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez Frías received financial support by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) for his projects after his capture that year. This mostly explains the relationship and "debt" between the parties, as revealed by a paper of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) of the United Kingdom.