President Nicolas Maduro’s government has summoned investors who hold some $60 billion in junk bonds to Caracas in a desperate bid to shore up public finances that have been squeezed by the unraveling of the socialist economy.
Investors broadly said they planned to skip the meeting because of concerns about US sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials, worries about security in violence-torn Caracas, and generalised confusion about what President Maduro hopes to achieve.
Markets were optimistic on Friday that Venezuela would continue to service its debt despite the odds, noting that President Maduro’s government had made close to $2 billion in payments in the past two weeks, albeit delayed.
“The country that has paid the greatest amount of debt per capita is called Venezuela,” President Maduro said during his weekly Sunday broadcast, insisting the country was the victim of an “economic war.”
But many say President Maduro’s promise to restructure and refinance debt rings hollow at a time when US sanctions make both options all but impossible, and that his government may be paving the way for a default despite promises to the contrary.
The 2pm (1600 GMT) meeting will be held in the ornate White Palace building across the street from the president’s office in downtown Caracas.
The economic crisis has already taken a brutal toll on Venezuelans, who increasingly suffer from malnutrition and preventable diseases because they cannot find food and medicine or cannot afford them because of triple-digit inflation.
The sight of poor Venezuelans eating from black bin liners has become a powerful symbol of decay.
It contrasts sharply with the era of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, when high oil prices helped fuel state spending and even the most humble citizens could travel abroad or buy the latest cellphone.