By Rae Wee and Libby George
BANGKOK, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Venezuela is hoping to publish a debt sustainability anaylsis “very soon”, but the process has been more challenging than expected, top economic adviser Calixto Ortega told a panel during the IMF-World Bank meetings on on Wednesday.
• The Latin American oil-producing nation announced plans in May to restructure its debt, and has been working on macroeconomic and debt frameworks to underpin the process since then
• It had aimed to deliver these in June, and Calixto said they had been “almost ready to do so” before devastating earthquakes struck the country that month
• “This is a priority,” Calixto said of publishing the documents, adding: “I am very optimistic”
• The restructuring of the country’s estimated $150-200 billion debt pile could be the largest in history and is complicated by a unique web of creditors
• Calixto also said that dollarisation is “not the right answer” for Venezuela, and that the country needed to strengthen its local currency and strengthen institutions to make economic activity easier
• He also said Venezuela wants an inflation targeting framework in the medium term, and aims to reach two-digit inflation “sooner rather than later”
• Venezuela has also been signing agreements this year with gold producers and aims to store gold in the central bank and build up international reserves
(Reporting by Rae Wee and Libby George; Editing by Amanda Cooper)
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