IMF Explores a Venezuela Office, Says Caracas Has Not Requested a Program or Funding
WASHINGTON - IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said on October 1 that the Fund is looking to set up an office in Venezuela, while stressing that the Venezuelan government has not requested an IMF program or any other sort of funding at this stage. It is another step in a thaw after years without engagement between the Fund and Caracas.
Kozack told reporters that IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva had met Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. In her General Assembly speech, Rodriguez pledged that Venezuela would hold elections as part of a transition to full democracy, without giving a date; she travelled seeking deals on debt, energy and mining, but left without concrete agreements.
Venezuela's relationship with the IMF broke down in 2019, followed by years of sanctions and isolation. After U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro in January and Rodriguez became interim president, Caracas gradually resumed contact with multilateral bodies. An IMF office would let the Fund assess Venezuelan economic data and reconstruction needs on the ground - rebuilding after June's devastating twin earthquakes is among the government's top financing challenges.
Still, an office is far from a lending program: debt restructuring, data transparency and governance conditions all stand between the two. The Fund's October 1 statement keeps engagement at the technical level; when Caracas formally requests a program, and on what terms, will be a key marker of how fast Venezuela's economic normalisation proceeds.
Sources: Compiled from Reuters reporting of October 1, 2026, on the IMF and Venezuela, and Reuters' late-September coverage of Rodriguez's UN trip.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 国际货币基金组织总裁格奥尔基耶娃，Europäische Kommission - Audiovisueller Dienst, Xavier Lejeune, Yügen, CE - Serv 摄，CC BY 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）
