Venezuela central bank denies transactions with Wall St.

Venezuela's central bank president denied on Thursday that Caracas is carrying out any transactions with Wall Street banks, a day after a senior government source said it was evaluating a swap agreement involving its gold reserves. Asked about reports the government was seeking to fortify its dwindling dollar supplies via such a deal, central bank chief Eudomar Tovar said there were proposals, but nothing more. Less than two weeks before December 8 local elections, the government of President Nicolas Maduro faces chronic product shortages and annual inflation of close to 55 percent. Latest data showed Venezuela's economic growth slowing in the third quarter to 1.1 percent, compared with 4.2 percent in the same period of last year.

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