Venezuela has asked the IMF for neither a lending programme nor financing, the Fund said on October 1, as the two sides discuss putting staff on the ground in Caracas.

"The Venezuelan authorities have not requested an IMF programme, nor have they requested financing from the IMF. Any financing that would be provided would be only at the request of the authorities," IMF Communications Director Julie Kozack told a regular press briefing.

The absence of a programme matters beyond the Fund. The Inter-American Development Bank's president, Ilan Goldfajn, is pushing for a $2.5bn financing package for Venezuela, but some board directors are resisting, and the lending window it would use normally requires the borrower to have an active IMF programme, Reuters reported last month. Most sovereign debt restructurings also run alongside a Fund programme, and Caracas has reportedly put its own $240bn restructuring on hold to prioritise oil deals, with the IMF expected to act only as an adviser and to help prepare a debt sustainability analysis once talks resume.

Kozack confirmed the Fund and Venezuelan authorities are considering a local presence in the country to support technical cooperation and capacity development, adding that "the timing and modalities are still being discussed".

That is a more guarded line than the one taken by Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, who told Bloomberg on September 21 that the IMF would open an office in Caracas, possibly in the first half of 2027.

Technical work with the authorities is converging on five areas: macroeconomic statistics, monetary operations, foreign exchange operations, treasury operations and tax administration, Kozack said.

Georgieva met acting President Delcy Rodriguez on September 21 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. They discussed Venezuela's economic situation, including recovery from the earthquakes, progress on re-engagement and how the IMF could keep supporting the country through capacity development and policy advice, Kozack said. An IMF staff team visited Caracas from late August to early September to discuss priorities for technical assistance and the provision of data.

The Washington-based lender resumed dealings with Caracas in April, after members holding a majority of its voting power recognised Rodriguez's interim government, which took over after US forces seized then-president Nicolas Maduro in January in Operation Absolute Resolve. Relations had been frozen since March 2019, and the IMF has not carried out a full Article IV review of Venezuela's economy since 2004. Rodriguez, who has proved receptive to US requests to open up the country's oil and mineral riches to foreign investors and recently met President Donald Trump in New York, ruled out a debt programme as soon as ties were restored, casting the move as a diplomatic rather than a financial milestone.

Since then the relationship has turned on Venezuela's own money held at the Fund. After the June 24 devastating earthquakes, which killed more than 6,500 people, Caracas drew $346mn from its IMF reserve tranche for reconstruction, separate from Special Drawing Rights holdings of about $4.5bn. The IMF named Alvaro Piris as mission chief for Venezuela in June, and he and Western Hemisphere Department Director Nigel Chalk later held talks in Caracas with Rodriguez and central bank officials on monetary and exchange-rate policy.