Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will use $12 billion of its international reserves to finance spending and development projects this year amid a collapse in prices for oil, the country’s top export, President Hugo Chavez said.

The central bank will transfer the “excess” reserves by next month, Chavez said during a speech today in Zulia state. Venezuela had $41.3 billion in international reserves as of Jan. 14, and Chavez said today the country needs only $30 billion.

“We have financing, in the first place we have our own,” Chavez said today during a televised meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The Venezuelan basket, an index of the country’s oil export, plunged 73 percent since July to $34.02 a barrel today, according to the Oil and Energy Ministry. Venezuela, the biggest oil exporter in the Americas, depends on petroleum sales for 93 percent of exports and half the government’s budget.

Chavez said that aside from reserves, Venezuela can also rely on development funds already promised from China and Brazil. Lula said today he expects Brazil’s congress to approve Venezuela’s membership in the Mercosur trade bloc by March.

Chavez said in October that the central bank would transfer only $7 billion in reserves to an off-budget, government-run development fund at the end of 2008. The country’s international reserves jumped 9.9 percent from the beginning of October to Jan. 7, when they rose to $42.4 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Caracas at mwalter4@bloomberg.net; Jose Orozco in Caracas at jorozco8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 16, 2009 15:40 EST