Venezuela swaps $188 mln of maturing internal debt

Reuters, 06.13.03, 12:47 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela, June 13 (Reuters) - Venezuela's government said on Friday it had pushed back maturities on 49 percent of local debt bonds due Saturday -- about $188 million -- in the latest of a program of debt swaps aimed at easing a payments crunch this year. The Finance Ministry said in a statement that 301.2 billion bolivars ($188.3 million) were swapped in the operation Thursday, out of 616.4 billion bolivars ($385.2 million) worth of bonds which fell due June 14. Maturities were extended by periods of between two years and four months and three years and one month. It was the eighth internal debt swap carried out since November by leftist President Hugo Chavez's government, which is struggling to cope with the worst economic recession in Venezuela's recent history. Following a crippling opposition strike that disrupted Venezuelan oil exports in December and January, the economy of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter contracted 29 percent in the first quarter of 2003. In Thursday's operation, the Finance Ministry offered new bonds known as VEBONOS up to a total amount of 750 billion bolivars ($468.8 million). For the first time since it began the debt swap program last November, the Finance Ministry introduced VEBONOS carrying a coupon rate based on 91-day Treasury Bills which it said more accurately reflected the country's sovereign risk. Venezuela's internal public debt stands at more than 15 trillion bolivars ($9.4 billion) and maturities are heavily concentrated over the next three years. The government is seeking to ease this payments squeeze through the swaps. In seven previous swaps carried out since November, Venezuela's government has pushed back maturities on internal debt bonds worth 4.4 trillion bolivars ($2.7 billion), according to Finance Ministry figures. The last swap was held April 10