Venezuela May Move Cash, Gold From U.S.

Venezuela may transfer billions of dollars in cash and gold reserves held in U.S. and European banks to financial institutions in “allied” countries, opposition lawmaker Julio Montoya said today.

Montoya, speaking on the Globovision network from the National Assembly, said the Finance Ministry wants to transfer more than $6 billion of cash reserves to countries including China, Russia and Brazil. More than $18 billion in gold reserves abroad could be transported back to Venezuela, Montoya said, citing a document he said he obtained from the ministry.

“We think that China, Russia and Brazil have asked Venezuela to transfer the reserves to guarantee the loans that the government has received in recent years,” Montoya said. “President Hugo Chavez has not yet approved the plan.”

Chavez, who says he wants to eliminate the “dictatorship” of the U.S. dollar, has called on Venezuela’s central bank to diversify its $28.8 billion in reserves away from U.S. institutions. He has also promoted the expanded use of the sucre, a currency created by the Alba bloc in 2009, for regional trade.

Phone calls to officials at the Finance Ministry and central bank seeking comment weren’t immediately returned.

China has lent Venezuela as much as $32 billion since 2008 to finance infrastructure and social development projects. The South American country, in turn, ships more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day to China to repay the loan. The government is in talks with both Brazil and Russia for new multibillion-dollar loans, Chavez said on Aug. 11.

Venezuela’s government may want to move funds out of the U.S. to avoid any possible freezing of funds in the future, said Montoya, without providing more details