Episode Description
Can We Say Anything Meaningful About a Venezuelan Debt Restructuring?
Venezuela must restructure its debt if it, and its new "friends" in Washington DC, want the economy humming again. But how? The debt stock is enormous and the range of claims so vast that normal techniques are unlikely to work. And typically, before anything could happen, the IMF would need to go in and assess the actual situation on the ground. All this takes time. But we imagine that the folks in Washington DC want to declare their adventure a success, and soon. Is that impulse consistent with an orderly, comprehensive debt restructuring? For that matter, what would a restructuring look like if we also assume that Washington wants to line its own pockets with Venezuelan oil revenues, and perhaps to give preferential treatment to oil major creditors (to entice them back into Venezuela)? We don’t have answers — but we suspect that those folks in DC don’t either.
Producer: Leanna Doty
Venezuela must restructure its debt if it, and its new "friends" in Washington DC, want the economy humming again. But how? The debt stock is enormous and the range of claims so vast that normal techniques are unlikely to work. And typically, before anything could happen, the IMF would need to go in and assess the actual situation on the ground. All this takes time. But we imagine that the folks in Washington DC want to declare their adventure a success, and soon. Is that impulse consistent with an orderly, comprehensive debt restructuring? For that matter, what would a restructuring look like if we also assume that Washington wants to line its own pockets with Venezuelan oil revenues, and perhaps to give preferential treatment to oil major creditors (to entice them back into Venezuela)? We don’t have answers — but we suspect that those folks in DC don’t either.
Producer: Leanna Doty