Flirting with default, Venezuela vows debt payment

CARACAS, (Reuters) - Venezuela’s cash-strapped government yesterday vowed it was making debt payments responsibly, even as two ratings agencies declared partial default on a crippling debt load that has fueled hunger and disease.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government left investors scratching their heads on Monday after a debt negotiation meeting that offered no specifics on plans to avoid default or execute an unlikely restructuring plan.

Despite optimism that payment will continue in the short-term, investors believe the country will at some point be unable to service some $60 billion in junk bonds - potentially triggering messy lawsuits and worsening an already difficult economic situation.

“Today we have initiated payment of interest on Venezuela’s foreign debt,” said Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez in a televised speech, apparently referring to delayed payment of $200 million on several Venezuelan bonds.

Government officials describe Monday’s meeting as the start of a debt renegotiation process that Maduro announced earlier this month.

Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly, an all-powerful legislature created in August despite condemnation by the opposition and the international community, on Tuesday approved a resolution “to support and accompany the refinancing process.”

But investors say that no such process in fact exists. They say Maduro’s government has presented no coherent financial plan, and that any such plan would likely be made impossible by U.S. sanctions.

Ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded Venezuelan bonds to “selective default,” citing delays in paying interest on bonds maturing in 2019 and 2024.