Venezuela will refine gold in Turkey to protect reserves from US sanctions
NOVANEWS
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
The Central Bank of Venezuela will start refining gold in Turkey to avoid US sanctions – penalties that deter the country from carrying out banking operations in Switzerland, according to the Venezuelan mining minister.
“This is an agreement established with Turkey and the Venezuelan central bank,” Victor Cano told journalists. “It’s being done by allied countries because imagine what would happen if we sent gold to Switzerland and we are told that it has to stay there because of sanctions.”
Venezuela’s central bank has been purchasing gold from small miners in the south of the country and then refining the precious metal to use as monetary gold. So far Caracas has been seeking to shore up its international reserves which have plunged as Venezu...