Venezuela Plans Philanthropy Requirement for Banks
January 22, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Venezuelan government, under President Hugo Chavez, will likely pass legislation to require banks to make loans to the manufacturing sector at below market rates, and to give some of their profits to support social development, reports the Associated Press.
The amount banks would have to turn over for social programs has not yet been decided, said Trino Alcides Diaz, head of the government’s banking regulatory agency, but “the proposal has a lot of support, so it will happen.”
The other proposal would require banks to reserve 10 percent of their total lending for manufacturing, at low interest rates. Banks in Venezuela must already allocate low-interest loans for agriculture, mortgages, small businesses, and tourism.
