	venezuela tightens foreign exchange restrictions venezuela s central bank has ordered venezuelan banks and exchange houses to cease foreign exchange operations with brokers based outside the country according to a copy of a central bank telex made available to reuters the measure confirmed by a brokerage firm here has effectively cut off all foreign participation in venezuela s volatile currency market the telex issued on may was signed by carlos hernandez delfino manager of the bank s department of international operations the telex said the restriction on business with foreign brokers is in line with an earlier measure prohibiting foreign exchange houses from selling dollars or other foreign currencies to anyone living outside venezuela in recent weeks the venezuelan government has denied rumours that it intends to impose foreign exchange controls to prop up the weakening bolivar but brokers said the central bank s move is seen as a de facto currency control it is definitely a control in the sense that there s no longer complete freedom to operate one broker here said gradually they re imposing restrictions and the direction is towards complete control the broker said the broker who requested anonymity said virtually all his venezuelan customers had stopped doing business with him since the central bank issued the telex and followed it up with telephone calls he said that before the restriction was imposed the volume of his firm s transactions with venezuela was about mln dlrs a day it was a frenetic market it was really quite active he said the broker said he saw no logical explanation for the prohibition because his firm only acted act as an intermediary between venezuelan brokers exchange houses and banks we weren t buying dollars from venezuelans that s ridiculous he said they ve been on a rampage against foreigners the broker noted that two months ago venezuela s central bank quietly announced that banks doing foreign exchange business outside venezuela would have to respect a new pct reserve requirement in february the central bank also prohibited trading in bolivar futures the broker said we used to have a forward market he said for a small currency it was miraculous he said the bolivar which averaged to the u s dollar in would continue to slip from its current range of to because the central bank was rapidly running out of foreign reserves to support the currency on the free market reuter 
