Central Bank avows that demand of foreign currency overtakes supply

Nelson Merentes, the president of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), fired back to the hints of sluggishness in allocation of foreign currency for travelers and students.

The senior officer vouched that the Foreign Exchange Administration Board (Cadivi) has kept on dealing with all applications. Thus far this year, for instance, USD 2 billion has been apportioned among travelers.

Nevertheless, he did allow a different situation concerning the Transaction System for Foreign Currency Denominated Securities (Sitme). In his own words, since the demand of foreign currency is higher than supply, queues are formed in the scheme.

With regard to a potential devaluation of the local currency, "some topics are not discussed publicly, but between the Executive Office and the Bank. It is not being discussed and cannot be discussed," the BCV president said, as quoted by private news TV channel Globovisión.