CARACAS: Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly expects to vote on making a US$71 million bond interest payment when it meets next week, a lawmaker and a member of state-run oil company PDVSA's ad-hoc board of directors said.
The bond payment would be part of National Assembly leader Juan Guaido's effort to protect PDVSA's overseas assets. Guaido in January invoked the country's constitution to assume an interim presidency on the basis that President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election was illegitimate. "We are working on making that decision," Guaido told Reuters on Friday, referring to the interest payment.Failure to pay the bond, one of the few that cash-strapped Venezuela has remained current on while defaulting on some US$8 billion in debt, could allow bondholders to seize Citgo shares as compensation. PDVSA has a 30-day grace period following the April 27 payment deadline.