Venezuela state oil company announces US$842-m bond payment
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA said Friday it had begun paying US$842 million in partial repayment of a debt bond maturing in 2020.
“PDVSA reports that bank transfers corresponding to the principal payment of the PDVSA 2020 bond have already been initiated for a total amount of US$841.88 million to the accounts of the JP Morgan bank,” the oil company said in a statement.
A default for PDVSA would have been disastrous at a time when access to credit has already been severely curtailed, according to Bloomberg, with refineries running at less than half of their capacity and oil output at less than two million barrels a day.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose country is in the throes of a deep recession and hyperinflation, has insisted that his government will continue to honour its international obligations even as imports shrivel.
