Venezuela confirms a meeting with bondholders to renegotiate the debt

The Venezuelan government confirmed today the meeting called for Monday with the holders of bonds of the Venezuelan State and its oil company PDVSA to renegotiate the terms of payment of the foreign debt of the Caribbean country.

Caracas, Nov 11 (EFE) .- The Venezuelan government confirmed today the meeting called for this Monday with the holders of bonds of the Venezuelan State and its oil company PDVSA to renegotiate the conditions of payment of the external debt of the Caribbean country.

"Following instructions from the Pte. @ NicolasMaduro, it is reported that the meeting of the C.P. (presidential commission) for renegotiate the terms of the external debt, "Economy and Finance Minister Simón Zerpa, also Vice President of Finance of PDVSA, wrote in his account of the social network.

announced Zerpa, the meeting will take place this November 13 at 2:00 pm local time (18:00 GMT) in the White Palace, an official building located opposite the Presidential Palace of Miraflores.

The meeting was convened on November 3 by order of Nicolás Maduro, who two days earlier had ordered the restructuring or refinancing of all the external debt of the Government and PDVSA to obtain more favorable conditions of payment.

The delays that this month have suffered some payments of PDVSA debt have made fear the fall in "default" or suspension of payments by the state company, whose oil exports represent 95% of the foreign currency obtained by the Venezuelan State.

PDVSA complied in October and November despite the delays with the two large payments that the Venezuelan State had to face this year, two liquidations amounting to nearly 2,000 million dollars.

Maduro assured that both the Government and the state oil company would not pay more debt maturities under the existing conditions as of the second of these payments, which was made earlier this month.

The government of the Caribbean country has seen its external financing capacity severely affected by not recognizing many of its potential creditors the debt be endorsed by the Parliament, before which the Executive does not present budgets or laws since the opposition victory in the legislative elections of December 2015.

Financial sanctions adopted by the United States in August - which prohibit investors from negotiating from that country with new debt from the Caracas government or PDVSA - have further stifled access to Venezuelan credit, which has sacrificed imports of food and other basic products in order to fulfill its commitments.