Chavez Creates `Socialist’ Bond Market in Venezuela, Promising High Yields

by Daniel Cancel and Charlie Devereux for Bloomberg, November 15th, 2010.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he is creating a “socialist” state-run Public Bond Market that will offer local investors high yields to stimulate saving and allow nationalized companies to seek financing. The Public Bond Market, which will begin operations in December, will allow state-run companies to sell debt to finance operations and individuals to seek investment opportunities, Chavez said.

Chavez tightened his grip on the financial industry this year by closing more than a dozen banks and 40 brokerages that he said committed “fraud” and set artificial exchange rates. He said investors will have their investments guaranteed by the state. Caracas’s private stock exchangehas seen trading plummet since 2007 after the nationalization of companies including Cemex SAB and Cia Anonima Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, known as CANTV.

“The banking and brokerage crisis has allowed us to draft this law,” Chavez said yesterday on state television during his Alo Presidente program. “Don’t spend all your year-end bonuses, invest in the bourse, and the state will guarantee your money with good yields.” (continue reading… )

 

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