On February 5 at midnight, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro will allow the private sector to take on foreign currency debt. Separately, following the Single National Productive Portfolio Law issued by the National Constituent Assembly at the end of January, he has appointed Miguel Pérez Abad as head of the new institution created by this law. This will bring together all the country’s bank portfolios to provide direct access to financing for micro, small and medium industries. This new entity will start working shortly.

As for the foreign currency debt emission, Maduro stated that the purpose of this mechanism is to enable entrepreneurs “not to have their hands tied” and also to help them build different sources of financing. Likewise, the president instructed that all credits granted by the Public Banking to the Small and Medium Industry of the country should be given in Petros.

As for the governing body of the Single National Productive Portfolio Law, this entity will work on defining the direction of the loans, registration of beneficiaries, interest rates, and monitoring and evaluation of the loans impact. The entity to be headed by Pérez Abad will regulate single portfolios, unifying mortgage loans, agribusiness, tourism, manufacturing and microcredit into a single portfolio. According to regulations, this new portfolio will represent between 10% and 25% of the total portfolio of the bank.

Who is the new rector of the Single National Productive Portfolio?

Miguel Pérez Abad is an industrial engineer who graduated from Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela. In the private sector, he worked in a pipeline production company, Helisold de Venezuela S. A., until 1987. In the 1990s, he joined the Federation of Industrialists, Small, Medium and Craftsmen of Venezuela (Fedeindustria), an organization that he presided over in 2015. In addition, he headed the company Puerto Gas.

In the public sector, he was appointed commissioner of the Economic Staff in 2015. In 2016, he was Minister of Industry and Commerce, a position he held in parallel with the Vice Presidency of Productive Economy. The same year, he was appointed president of the People’s Bicentennial Bank, a position he has held to date.