Venezuelan debt plunges, default horizon is hazy

Venezuelan sovereign bond prices plunged and the cost to insure the debt against a default surged on Tuesday in thin seasonal trading as five-year low oil prices cut the OPEC nation's cash flow, compounding already weak economic conditions.Markets are gearing up for a default, but some analysts, investors and economists point out the government has options to delay such a day of reckoning. President Nicolas Maduro insists the government will make all payments and has never missed one to its foreign creditors. Analysts point out that Venezuela, despite all its debt, is not a heavily indebted nation. Rather, it is heavily leveraged on imports, and the plunging value of its currency, the bolivar, is the real problem as businesses are short of U.S. dollars due to strict currency controls. More...