Venezuela's foreign currency reserves fall to 12 year low

Venezuelan Central Bank announced Wednesday that its foreign currency reserves have fallen to 18.95 billion U.S. dollars, the lowest in the last 12 years and a 14 percent fall since the beginning of 2015.

In its monthly report the bank said the reserves dipped due to recent payments of the nation's international debts that amounted to over 1.5 billion euros.

The South American nation is facing economic problems due to slumping global oil prices, which have cut back the country's revenues by over 50 percent.

This week state oil company PDVSA reported that its earnings fell 4.3 percent in 2014 to 128.4 billion, particularly after prices plummeted in late August.

International rating agencies have warned that Caracas may be at risk of default because of its 10-billion-dollar debt payments due this year, although President Nicolas Maduro said that would not happen.

In recent weeks the government has said it secured foreign loans, issued 1.5 billion dollars of bonds through PDVSA's U.S.-based subsidiary Citgo, and allowed the Dominican Republic to pay off 1.9 billion dollars in outstanding oil debt at a discount of more than 50 percent.

It has also reportedly swapped part of its gold reserves for one billion in cash from Citibank. Endi