Oil price slide casts doubt on Venezuela’s bonds

When Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro took power two-and-a-half years ago, he inherited Hugo Chávez’s unshakeable commitment to service the country’s debts, and Venezuelan oil at over $110 a barrel. Those days are long gone. Oil prices dived again last week, sending Venezuelan crude down towards $40 a barrel, the economy is forecast by the International Monetary Fund to shrink by 7 per cent this year and the country has been rapidly burning up its reserves to plug what Moody’s, the rating agency, estimates is a $30bn external financing gap in this year alone. More…