Caracas, May 3:

Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas denied that Venezuela will be isolated following its announced withdrawal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

The withdrawal decision was based on “economic and national sovereignty,” Cabezas said. The finance minister also dismissed remarks by US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack that the move would hurt the Venezuelan people and lead to economic isolation.

“On the contrary,” Cabezas said. “We will continue to increase Venezuelan ties in concert with other nations with the widest freedom possible now,” he said. Cabezas mentioned increased economic ties with China, India, Russia and Iran as proof of Venezuela’s improved foreign economic relations.

President Hugo Chavez on Monday announced that Venezuela was to withdraw from the global lenders, calling them ‘tools of US imperialism’ and claiming they are dominated since their conception by the US and Europe.

“The IMF and World Bank have been giving the-ir backs to Latin America and thus this reaction,” Cabezas said. “Today most important nations in Latin America — Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela — do not have debts with IMF.”