Venezuela's debt crisis deepens

It's crunch time in Caracas after the country defaulted on two bond payments and oil output continued its freefall

Venezuela's debt problem is quickly spiraling out of control. On Monday, the government blew through a 30-day grace period on $200m in coupon payments due for its 2019 and 2024 bonds without paying, leading the credit ratings agency S&P to declare the country in default on those bonds and in selective default on its long-term debt. The Luxembourg Stock Exchange suspended trading of the bonds, totaling nearly $5bn. Another $420m in coupon payments on four more bonds are also late, but still within their grace periods. Defaulting on those would raise the risk of a cascading and chaotic sovereign default. The timing could hardly have been worse. The first default came on the same day Presid