Venezuela State Bank To Capitalize Cuba Branch With $50 Million

Venezuela State Bank To Capitalize Cuba Branch With $50 Million

02-14-06 10:22 AM EST

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela plans to capitalize the Havana branch of
the Banco Industrial de Venezuela with $50 million so it can extend more
credit to Venezuelan exporters and other companies in the island, BIV
officials said Tuesday.

The capitalization of BIV branch will enable the bank to provide more
letters of credit to facilitate exports and also give credit to Cuban
state companies and mixed companies that operate in Cuba, said Gerardo
Reyes, a BIV spokesman in Caracas.

The BIV, a state-run bank, opened its Havana branch in April 2005,
another step in what Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calls an economic
integration between both countries.

The Venezuelan government has cemented economic dealings with Cuba and
now currently sells roughly 90,000 barrels of crude a day to the
Caribbean nation.

So far 40 Venezuelan companies export food, clothing and other goods to
Cuba, according to BIV data.

Chavez, a close friend of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has long defended
Castro's regime and calls it a revolutionary democracy.

-By Raul Gallegos, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-564-1339; raul.gallegos@
dowjones.com

END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-14-06 1022ET

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