Venezuela’s Maduro Accuses Rating Agencies of Hindering Access to Credit

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed that risk rating agencies have put Venezuela as the worst country in the world to invest in, with the idea that there is no access to credit at a time when oil prices have dropped. Maduro said on Monday that these agencies have estimated the risk in Venezuela to be the highest in the world when there are other countries that are at war or where there are Ebola outbreaks. He said that there are political reasons behind this rating so that the country cannot access credit. “Because if we are going to ask for $100 million to maintain investment in the metro (subway), for example, or keep investments in new industries, they charge a country 5, 8, 9 percent interest and they want to charge Venezuela 35 percent,” Maduro said. More…