Without Water, Venezuela’s Central Bank Sent Workers Home, Sources Say

(Bloomberg) -- Go inside the global economy with Stephanie Flanders in her new podcast, Stephanomics. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.

Venezuela’s central bank has been operating with an emergency team of only about 100 workers since a power outage left its headquarters without running water two weeks ago, according to four people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Most of the bank’s 2,000 employees were sent home when the lights went off in Caracas on March 25 -- and haven’t been able to return since, said the people on condition of anonymity. The emergency group has been working from a library with the help of water tanks, focused on vital tasks to keep operations going, such as transactions between local banks and reserves, they added.

The central bank’s situation underscores the disarray inside President Nicolas Maduro’s administration. Bathrooms have no water and the building has no air conditioning as a power crisis exacerbated water shortages in the Venezuelan capital amid a drought. Employees don’t know when they will be able to return to work. A spokesperson for the bank didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Venezuela Unemployment Nears That of War-Ruined Bosnia, IMF Says

While a power rationing announced by Maduro late last month has so far exempted the capital, electricity has been intermittent, keeping vital pumps from reservoirs off line. Caracas, 900 meters (2,950 feet) above sea level, gets its water from the Tuy system of reservoirs, whose pumping stations require a minimum of 600 megawatts to operate.

Venezuelans poured into the streets on Saturday, demonstrating against the near-total breakdown in public services and rallying behind National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, who claims to be the country’s rightful president.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.