Cash-flush Venezuelan firms are moving US dollars abroad: Sources

Venezuelan firms holding US dollars to shield themselves from hyperinflation are paying as much as 7 percent to move those funds overseas, sources tell Reuters.

Venezuelan companies that are holding cash in dollars to protect themselves from hyperinflation have started paying as much as 7 percent to have those funds transferred into overseas bank accounts, six people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters news agency. The country’s banks since 2020 have allowed firms to store United States dollars in vaults, offering shelter from the 3,100 percent inflation ravaging the bolivar currency. The accounts do not pay interest. This year, banks and financial intermediaries began offering a service that converts cash into deposits in foreign bank accounts, in exchange fees ranging from 4 percent to 7 percent of the amount being transferred, the sources said.