Venezuela has defaulted on two of its US dollar-denominated sovereign bond issues.
Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the oil rich coubtry’s credit rating Venezuela to “selective default”
The oil rich nation failed to make $200 million in coupon payments for its global bonds due 2019 and 2024 within the 30-calendar-day grace period.
The credit agency says that Venezuela is overdue on four other bond payments worth $420 million but that the grace period has not yet expired on those payments.
Fitch and Moody’s also declared that Venezuela is in default.
President Nicolas Maduro has formed a commission to restructure Venezuela’s sovereign debt and that of state oil company PDVSA.
But participants in a first meeting in Caracas on Monday said officials had come up with no concrete proposals for restructuring the debt.
Geronimo Mansutti from the Rendivalores brokerage said: ‘They didn’t give any concrete details on their plans, on what they hope to get.’
About 70 percent of Venezuelan bondholders are North American, according to government figures.
S&P said there was “a one-in-two chance that Venezuela could default again within the next three months.”