IDB Group Returns to Caracas: IDB Invest Opens Private-Sector Financing Talks With Rodriguez Government as 1,300 MW Power Plan Is Announced
CARACAS - Interim President Delcy Rodriguez chaired a special session of the National Economic Council on October 3, opening financing consultations with a delegation from IDB Invest, the Inter-American Development Bank Group's private-sector arm, led by its chief executive James Scriven. The meeting, at Simon Bolivar Park in La Carlota, Caracas, brought together Venezuela's banking sector, industry associations and chambers of commerce. In parallel, the IDB Group formally reopened its Caracas representation after seven years without a physical presence in Venezuela.
Rodriguez said the engagement answers a long-standing call from business owners, producers and entrepreneurs for financing mechanisms to expand activity - covering private firms, small and medium enterprises, the communal economy and start-ups. She also announced a government plan to add 1,300 megawatts to the national power system in the last quarter of the year to reduce blackouts, saying eased sanctions have restored access to spare-parts suppliers and electricity technology.
Reporting by EVTV and other outlets noted that the day's consultations closed without signed credit agreements, assigned amounts or a formal calendar, and that Venezuela's roughly $2.5 billion in arrears to the IDB still blocks development lending to ministries and state firms. Private groups and consultancies warned that a 72% bank reserve requirement and deteriorated public services are real constraints on turning multilateral money into projects.
At the session Rodriguez cited central bank estimates of about 6.5% growth in the third quarter - a 22nd consecutive quarter of expansion despite June's twin earthquakes. The growth narrative and the financing talks serve each other: Caracas hopes to convert the multilaterals' return into visible credit and works, the first real test of its reopening.
Sources: Compiled from Alberto News, EVTV and Dateando reporting of October 3, 2026, on the National Economic Council session with IDB Invest.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 加拉加斯城市天际线与远处的阿维拉山，Flauta 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0（Wikimedia Commons）
