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Citigroup Inc is planning to sell several tons of gold placed as collateral by Venezuela’s central bank on a $1.6 billion loan after the deadline for repurchasing them expired this month, Reuters reported, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.
“Maduro’s government has since 2014 used financial operations known as gold swaps to use its international reserves to gain access to cash after a slump in oil revenues left it struggling to obtain hard currency.
In the past two years, however, it has struggled to recover its collateral.
Under the terms of the 2015 deal with Citigroup’s Citibank, Venezuela was due to repay $1.1 billion of the loan on March 11, according to four sources familiar with the situation. The remainder of the loan comes due next year.
Citibank plans to sell the gold held as a guarantee – which has a market value of roughly $1.358 billion – to recover the first tranche of the loan and will deposit the excess of roughly $258 million in a bank account in New York, two of the sources said.
The ability of Maduro’s government to repay the loans have been complicated by the South American country’s dire economic situation as well as financial sanctions imposed by the United States and some European nations,” the report says.
Reuters also cited a supposed Venezuelan government source as saying that the country’s Central Bank did not transfer the money to Citibank this month.
Neither Citigroup, nor the Venezuelan Central Bank has commented on the report yet. However, such developments as well as further economic pressure on the Maduro government are highly expected because the US-led bloc has not abandonned its plans to overthrow the Venezuelan government.
Therefore, Venezuela will likely continue to loose its economic assets in the areas, which could be impacted by Washington and its allies in these regime change efforts.
USA indirect illegal repossession of Venezuela gold.Sanction and oppress country wont be able to pay off debt because it is cornered by superpower terrorists nation of USA.
Dont loan. Its as simple as that.
“Maduro’s government has since 2014 used financial operations known as gold swaps to use its international reserves to gain access to cash after a slump in oil revenues left it struggling to obtain hard currency” –> This sentence is missleading. It was not a slump in oil revenues, it was the effects of US embargos against the oil trade of Venezuela, which caused the revenues to shrink. In addition, all foreign assets of Venezuela had been frozen by the US embargo as well.
It is a economic war initiated by the USA, nothing else.
You can’t expect anything else from Reuters, the Zionist propaganda rag sheet. Anything they write has a kernel of truth, with usually a pile of lies on top.
And with US sanctions US banks are not allowed to do business with Venezuela. It’s likely Citi could not accept payment even if Venezuela attempted to pay. Pretty neat eh?
American freedom and democracy is Orwellian newspeak for corporate kleptocracy.
Reuters report….!!!!.
More US theft of Gold…. WTC gold,,, Iraqi,,, Libyan,,, Ukraine,,, Syrian and let us not forget the British theft.
Yes the USA / Britannia is making money the old fashioned way,,,, Stealing it.
The robbers and thugs of Washington sanction the whole world countries and these impotent leaders watching them like duck.
You forgot the German gold of the BRD, some 3400 metric tons. Germany is not even alowed to audit the presence of the gold in US.
The only answer of all these wars and evil sanctions on poor nations is to dismantle the migrant state of Israel and kick them out of Palestine.
What setback to Maduro? when Venezuala has been under attack for years, SouthFront is no different to NYT and such like outlets.
At this point I am pretty sure this is what US does to recover “investments” made during a “regime change”;
Think about it..they go in, start a commotion, then when everyone’s distracted (you know…with the killing and the dying thanks to ‘Murican democracy) they rob the country blind.
They did well not to repay so much the gold they did not give back to him, as in the UK. So if USA want to be repaid they will keep the gold they had already stolen.