Nov. 15 (UPI) — Venezuela and its state-run oil company, PDVSA, are in default after falling behind on debt payments, multiple credit agencies declared.
Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings declared the South American country in default all within a period of 24 hours, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
S&P said Venezuela failed to make $200 million in payments on its foreign debt.
S&P defined Venezuela as being in “selective default,” when a country fails to make a debt payment when it’s due. The $200 million payment was due Sunday. The country also is overdue on about $420 million in bond payments, but a 30-day grace payment has not yet expired on that amount.
Venezuela owes an estimated $140 billion in external debt.
Caracas officials met with investors Tuesday in an attempt to renegotiate the country’s debt, BBC News reported. Investors said, though, the government of President Nicholas Maduro did not make any proposal on how to restructure its debt.
Vice President Tareck El Aissami read a statement during the meeting blaming U.S.-imposed sanctions on Venezuela. In July, the U.S. Treasury specifically named El Aissami and a dozen other current and former officials in sanctions for allegedly being involved in Maduro’s violent suppression of protests, corruption and currency manipulation.
