3 Maduro measures that encircled banking in Venezuela

[MosterOfficial ☆]

By Caleb Zuleta (KonZ) .- Indices of capital adequacy. Legal lace. Adjustment of credits at the official exchange rate. All attentive against the bank. Against the credit So companies, commerce, what is still left in Venezuela, are in trouble to get financing.

The recent analysis of Consecomercio says so. The merchants' guild lists the factors that have restricted credit for industry and commerce. “In the course of 2017 and much of 2018, the growth of the credit portfolio of the Venezuelan financial system was restricted by the capital adequacy indices that the banks had to meet. However, at the end of 2018, the considerable increases in the official exchange rate eased -partially- this problem ”.

This on the one hand. As read in the Economic Report, Outlook 2020, prepared by the Economy Commission of Consecomercio. He points out that “2019 began with a new challenge for Venezuelan banks: a new legal reserve system came into force in mid-February, consisting of an ordinary reserve -of 57% of the public funds- and a marginal one -of 100 % of surplus reserves. Consequently, the intermediation capacity was reduced. And in a considerable way. ”

And here comes the point. “According to Ecoanalítica figures, Venezuelan banks are able to provide only 19% of the deposits they receive, which implies a significant restriction in the availability of credits for the different sectors of the Venezuelan economy, especially trade and of services ”.

KonZapata consulted some bankers and in the best case, only one of them admitted that his bank's portfolio reached 23%. It seems a record in these times.

The letter states that “at the end of October, the BCV formalized the implementation of a new scheme to adjust the value of commercial loans in the same proportion of the increases in the official exchange rate. According to Juan Carlos Dao, president of Bancaribe, the bank as a whole has disbursed very few credits since the entry into force of this measure ”.

The analysis concludes by pointing out that "the difficulty of forecasting the behavior of the exchange rate in an environment of incessant macroeconomic volatility has further restricted the financing possibilities for Venezuelan companies."