Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez is seeking to unlock roughly $4.9bn in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) held by the country at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), frozen since 2019 amid a dispute over the country’s political recognition, Spanish newspaper ABC reported. 

Although the funds belong to Venezuela, access depends on a decision by IMF members, where voting power is weighted and the United States holds decisive influence, followed by major economies such as Japan, China and European nations.

To move forward, Rodríguez is attempting to build sufficient support within the IMF to restore engagement with Venezuelan authorities. As part of this effort, she has dispatched a diplomatic delegation and requested meetings in Washington, D.C., reportedly scheduled for this week, reflecting the central role of US influence in IMF decisions. Caracas and Washington only recently restored diplomatic relations, which had been severed since 2019, after Nicolas Maduro's capture in January paved the way for a thaw.

Since then, Rodriguez has established a good working relationship with US President Donald Trump, who handpicked her to oversee a transition away from Chavismo, sidelining leading opposition figures and lavishing praise on her. However, her inclusion on the OFAC sanctions list since 2018 may complicate these efforts by restricting her interaction with international financial institutions.

Formal relations between the IMF and Venezuela remain suspended, preventing financial assistance and technical programmes. Still, the fund has left open the possibility of limited technical contacts to collect economic data and assess conditions on the ground. 

While such exchanges do not yet imply political recognition, they mark a shift from previous complete disengagement.

If ties are eventually restored, Venezuela could access its SDR holdings, providing scope to bolster reserves, maintain imports and ease inflationary pressures in a fragile economic environment. 

Domestically, such a development would also signal an ability to secure external financing, badly needed to rebuild the country's crumbling oil infrastructure and revive a moribund economy.

The IMF warned in February that Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian situation remains “quite fragile”, citing expectations of triple-digit inflation and continued currency depreciation.

"Venezuela is undergoing a severe and prolonged economic and humanitarian crisis," IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said during a briefing last month. "Socioeconomic conditions remain very difficult, poverty is high, inequality is high and there are widespread shortages of basic services. The situation overall is quite fragile."

The IMF has not conducted an Article IV consultation with Venezuela since 2004, underscoring the absence of regular economic surveillance. In 2018, the lender's executive board formally censured the country for failing to provide required data.

The organisation estimates Venezuela’s public debt at roughly 180% of gross domestic product, excluding potential liabilities linked to past defaults, pointing to the scale of the country’s financial imbalances.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) this week broke seven years of statistical silence, publishing balance of payments data through 2025 for the first time since 2018, a move that could encourage the IMF to re-engage with Caracas.