Venezuela’s Guaido Says CAF Preparing to Offer $400 Million Loan

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido said the Corporacion Andina de Fomento regional development bank is preparing to offer a $400 million line of credit to help “alleviate” Venezuela’s crisis.

Guaido, who is recognized by more than 50 countries as the country’s rightful leader, said the money wouldn’t be handed to Nicolas Maduro’s regime, without providing details. CAF, as the lender is known, handed Venezuela a $500 million loan last year to help Maduro repay existing debt with the lender amid criticism by the opposition that it was illegal and fraudulent.

A press official for CAF didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plan is for the loan to be managed by a third party, such as an inter-governmental development program, and the funds will be dedicated to mitigate the country’s electric crisis, according to two opposition lawmakers with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named as the terms of the deal are still being negotiated.

“Power failures keep 80% of homes without water supply,” Guaido said from the National Assembly. “We want Venezuelans to have electricity in their homes.”

With most sources of new financing closed off by U.S. sanctions and a default on its international bonds, Venezuela is in the throes of hyperinflation and a severe economic crises, which has led to a series of major power outages this year. The financial isolation has forced officials to use a patchwork of methods to move money around, including clandestine gold sales and cryptocurrency payments.

Maduro recently visited Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin, one of the embattled regime’s few international allies, made no offer of any major financial support.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Vasquez in Caracas Office at avasquez45@bloomberg.net;Fabiola Zerpa in Caracas Office at fzerpa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Patricia Laya at playa2@bloomberg.net, ;Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson

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