CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that his country had decided to withdraw from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). Chavez made the announcement at an event to celebrate workers’ rights. “I want to formalise our exit from the World Bank and the IMF,” he said, adding, “We will no longer have to go to Washington, neither to the IMF nor the WB.” Chavez also proposed to set up a Bank of the South, which would be run by Latin Americans.