Venezuela Vows PDVSA Will Met 2017 Bond Payments Amid Stronger Oil Prices
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA will honor some $17 billion in bond payments due this year thanks to stronger oil prices, Economy Vice President Ramon Lobo said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, surged in January above $58 per barrel in the wake of output cuts, although it slipped last week to a three-month low.
Cash-squeezed Venezuela depends on oil for over 90 percent of its hard-currency revenues, so market fears have grown over its ability to service major debt payments. President Nicolas Maduro's government, however, has repeatedly ruled out a default.
"If we managed to pay last year, which was a harder and trickier year, we'll certainly achieve it this year," Lobo told state-owned newspaper Correo del Orinoco. He added that an increase in oil prices at the start of the year gave the country a boost.
Analysts largely expect Venezuela to pay, although the recent slip in oil prices is a worry.
"The estimated $5 decline in oil prices that translates into $3.2 billion fewer petrodollars is not yet a trigger for default," Siobhan Morden, managing director and head of Latin America Fixed Income Strategy at Nomura, said in a note to clients last week.
"However it clearly raises concern without yet knowing the bottom for oil prices."
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer)
