Overview
- During the Spring Meetings in Washington, the IMF and World Bank said they have reestablished formal relations with Venezuela under interim president Delcy Rodríguez.
- IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the Fund will move with great speed to enable future access to financing, but only after required steps that include an Article IV review, which is the IMF’s full health check of a country’s economy.
- IMF Americas director Nigel Clarke said a team is already in talks with the finance ministry, the central bank, and statistical agencies to rebuild a current picture of Venezuela’s economy.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent welcomed the move and said U.S. recognition of Rodríguez’s government cleared the way for renewed IMF engagement.
- Relations had been paused since 2019 over disputes about who led the government, and the reopening follows policy shifts in Caracas, including laws that invite foreign investment in oil and mining and support from the U.S., Brazil, the UAE, and Qatar.