Venezuela trims US dollars for imports; prompts Sucre

Central bank says over 300 companies use Sucre

US sales for regular imports collapsed (File photo)

VÍCTOR SALMERÓN | EL UNIVERSAL

Friday January 18, 2013 03:27 PM

In 2012, the Venezuelan Foreign Exchange Administration Commission (Cadivi) implemented a strategy to stimulate the Unified System for Regional Compensation (Sucre) as a mechanism to import and cut down the sale of US dollars for import via both regular operations and the Latin America Integration Association (Aladi).

Sucre is a common account unit worth USD 1.24, used by Member States of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Alba); it allows Venezuelan enterprises to pay in bolivars imports from Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

According to Cadivi's data, Sucre's overall operations in 2012 amounted to USD 2.75 billion, 478% above the figure recorded a year earlier.

In the meantime, regular operations via Cadivi accounted for USD 18.17 billion, 7% below those recorded in 2011. Moreover, bond sales under Aladi went down 4.5%.

In late 2012, BCV's President Nelson Merentes asserted that "300 enterprises operated under Sucre by the end of 2012, 99% of which belong to the private sector."

vsalmeron@eluniversal.com

Translated by Jhean Cabrera

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