Venezuela’s leading opposition candidate, María Corina Machado, will present her economic plan, including a debt restructuring proposal, to economists and bondholders in New York next month.
Machado, who is banned from traveling by Nicolás Maduro’s government, will virtually present a plan on July 18 at an event hosted at the headquarters of the Americas Society Council of the Americas in New York.
In her plan she hopes to reach a “friendly agreement with bondholder” that includes the restructuring of Venezuela’s $60 billion of defaulted bonds issued by the government and state-owned oil company PDVSA, according to a copy of the event’s program obtained by Bloomberg.
Venezuela defaulted on debt starting in 2017, two years before the US cut ties with Maduro’s government and imposed a ban prohibiting US investors from buying the country’s debt, which effectively dried up the market and pushed prices to as low as 3 cents.
Machado’s restructuring plan includes swapping sovereign debt for ownership or stakes in state-owned enterprises that would be privatized under her tenure. But time for any negotiation is running out, as the six-year statute of limitations on the debt is close to expiring and creditors would be forced to sue to protect their rights to demand payment in court.
Seeking to buy time, the Maduro administration offered in May to unilaterally suspend the statute of limitations, but this decision is not valid while his government remains illegitimate under US law. The opposition, however, which is authorized by the US to represent Venezuela, has yet to present their plan on the matter.
Machado’s proposal, which is described as “expansive stabilization,” will also target measures to reduce the nation’s fiscal deficit and address Venezuela’s energy sector.
Read more: Venezuela Creditors Urge Opposition to Support Bond Standstill
According to most recent polls, Machado leads a pack of 14 opposition candidates running in the Oct. 22 primaries, ahead of other popular contenders such as former governor and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. Maduro, widely expected to run for a third term, has yet to set a date for the vote or invite foreign observers to oversee the election.
Recent polls suggest that Machado’s popularity has been on the rise, with voting intention toward her in the primaries growing from 35.4% in November to 46.4% in May, according to the latest survey by Caracas-based firm ORC Consultores.
