November
25, 2003
Venezuela
plans $87.5 million domestic debt swap
(Reuters, reproduced by Forbes.com) - "Venezuela's
government said it planned to exchange domestic
public debt due next month in new bonds worth
up to $87.5 million with longer maturities in
a program to ease a concentration in short-term
debt payments.
In the operation the government
aims to swap Domestic Public Debt bonds maturing
in December for up to 140 billion bolivars in
new notes due in August 2004 and May 2005, according
to a Venezuelan Central Bank statement.
President Hugo Chávez's government in November
last year began a refinancing program on its 20
trillion bolivar or $12.9 billion domestic debt
to smooth out a concentration of capital and service
payments between this year and 2005 (…)
The government has so far exchanged
and extended by an average of 3 years more than
3 trillion bolivars or $1.87 billion in domestic
debt due through 2005.
Investors have also welcomed
the government's recent operations to better manage
and refinance its $23 billion foreign debt load.
In its most recent issue, Venezuela sold $1 billion
in 15-year bonds as part of a program to buy back
dollar-denominated foreign debt due in the next
three years".
