Crackdown on Illegal Currency Market Continues in Venezuela http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5377

Planning and Finance Minister Jorge Giordani said the firms purchase government bonds at the preferred dollar conversion rate and illegally sell them at a profit. This causes inflation in the value of the dollar and, as a result, inflation in the import-dependent Venezuelan economy, in addition to the flight of valuable resources out of the Venezuelan economy.

“The responsibility for setting the exchange rates belongs to the national executive and the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), not to these imposters and professional swindlers,” said Giordani in a press conference.

Tomas Sanchez, president of the National Securities Commission, said as much as 80% of Venezuela’s 107 stock and bond brokerage firms participate in the parallel dollar market, and many of these companies were created with the sole purpose of illegal dollar trading.