Venezuela Moves to Resume Dollar Sales, Halting Bolivar Rout

Venezuela is preparing to resume sales of dollars, bringing relief to its battered currency after a US oil blockade riled the local foreign-exchange market.

Banks in Caracas contacted corporate clients this week to offer the first significant supply of dollars from the government since mid-December, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The banks are collecting bids, though no funds had been disbursed as of Thursday, one of the people said.

While it was unclear how much the government was offering or whether the funds come from new oil sales, the move follows the Trump administration’s of two of the world’s largest commodities traders to sell Venezuelan oil. That revived hopes that some proceeds could reach the parched foreign-exchange market, helping stabilize the bolivar after weeks of gyrations.

Alejandro Grisanti, a director at local consultancy Ecoanalitica, said the funds are coming from a trust set up in Qatar to receive oil-sale proceeds, which are then sold through the country’s four largest private banks.

The move helps stave off a potential extreme depreciation in the exchange rate, which “would have left us on the verge of a new hyperinflation,” he said.

A government spokesperson didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.

The bolivar stabilized in parallel trading on Friday at below 500 per dollar, according to prices posted on crypto trading platforms.

It had swung wildly since the US military began blocking oil exports, which dried up dollar supply and sapped the government of its principal source of foreign earnings.

The situation worsened after the US captured Nicolas Maduro, with the bolivar weakening more than 20% to around 800 per dollar at one point, stoking fears of another currency crisis.

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In addition to authorizing some trading of Venezuelan oil, Trump met with oil companies to discuss potential investment in the nation’s energy industry. On Thursday, acting President Delcy Rodriguez presented a reform to the nation’s energy laws and announced the creation of two funds into which dollars from oil sales will be funneled.