Russia and Venezuela signed a debt restructuring deal on Wednesday allowing Caracas to make minimal payments to Moscow in the next six years to help it meet obligations to other creditors, the Russian Finance Ministry said. Under the deal, Venezuela will pay Russia back a total of US$ 3.15 billion over a 10-year period, the ministry said.
Venezuela hosted a brief meeting of creditors on Monday as the struggling yet oil-rich country sought to stave off a default seen as inevitable by experts, while the EU stepped up the pressure with new sanctions on Caracas.
Russia, China, Egypt and Bolivia boycotted an informal public United Nations Security Council meeting on Venezuela on Monday organized by the United States, saying the 15-member body should not be involved in the situation.
Venezuela's foreign debt renegotiation committee will meet with creditors at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Monday at the government's White Palace in downtown Caracas, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine.
Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA began making a major bond payment, easing short-term worries about default but leaving the populist government with less cash to attend to food shortages and economic depression.
Venezuela's Opposition appeared close to disintegration this week after a key leader ditched the main coalition opposed to President Nicolas Maduro, bolstering the socialist leader ahead of elections due next year.
Four newly-elected opposition governors in Venezuela have agreed to be sworn in by the constituent assembly, defying their coalition's official position. The Roundtable for Democracy (MUD) had said none of its candidates would kneel before the pro-government assembly, which it regards as illegitimate.
One week before Venezuela faces a critical debt payment, the distressed country is already late on a series of smaller bills. The nation's state-owned oil giant, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA, has two major bond payments totaling about US$2 billion coming due in the next two weeks.
Opposition leaders in Venezuela have alleged fraud after electoral authorities claimed that Nicolás Maduro’s socialist party won 17 of 24 governorships in Sunday’s regional elections. On Sunday evening, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena announced that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had won 17 out of 24 governorships and 54 percent of the votes. Turnout was reportedly at 61%.