Exclusive: Venezuela prepares to fly tonnes of central bank gold to UAE -source

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will sell 15 tonnes of gold from central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash, a senior official with knowledge of the plan said, in a bid by the cash-strapped country to stay solvent.

The sale of gold reserves that back the Bolivar currency began on Jan. 26 with a shipment of 3 tonnes, the official said, and follows the export last year of $900 million of unrefined gold to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

(Reporting by Corina Pons, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)