Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said today that the South American country would avoid more borrowing on international markets due to rising costs as a result of worsening credit risk perceptions.
«We are not going to use or ask for credit, in those conditions the global capitalist banks want to impose. We’re not going to do it. We have other (financing) sources, fortunately,» he said in a speech on state TV.
«It’s a sort of financial, credit, international blockade.»
Venezuela’s bond yields are currently the highest of any emerging market economy. The country’s debt on average pays 17.6 percentage points more than comparable US Treasury bills, according to the JPMorgan Emerging Market Index.
The country’s bonds have dropped 12.8 percent so far this year, driven by investors’ concerns about its capacity to pay. The overall index of emerging market bonds has risen 9.3 percent during the same period.
Maduro reiterated that OPEC member Venezuela, which receives 96 percent of its foreign currency revenues from oil, was prepared for volatility on global energy markets. Venezuela has called for an emergency OPEC meeting to halt the slide in prices.
«I hope there’s going to be a recovery … (that) prices (will) bounce back and return to where they really should be,» he said.
buenosairesherald.com