Citibank closes Venezuelan govt account

Citibank confirmed late Tuesday that it has closed the account used by the Venezuelan government to make its international payments.

Previously, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had called the measure a "financial blockade," saying the US financial institution was shutting down the accounts of Banco Central de Venezuela and Banco de Venezuela, the country's central bank and state-controlled commercial bank, respectively.

"They think they can stop us by activating a financial blockade. This is a different world, nobody can stop Venezuela, with Citibank or without it, Venezuela won't be stopped," Maduro said in a press release.

Citibank – which cited a risk assessment for closing the account – is just the latest foreign company to close or scale back its operations in Venezuela. American Airlines, Aeroméxico, Lufthansa, Clorox, the Kraft Heinz company and Clorox have either shut down or scaled back due to restrictions such as profit repatriation.