Belmopan:
The Government of Belize announced today that it is unable to make an August 20, 2012 coupon payment on the country’s U.S. Dollar Step-up Bonds Due 2029.
Belize has already commenced discussions with the holders of this bond regarding a consensual restructuring of the instrument.
“The Step-up Bond alone represents approximately one-half of Belize’s total recorded public indebtedness”, explainedDean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize and Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
“The annual interest rate on this bond stepped up earlier this year to 8.5%. We simply cannot afford this coupon payment, given the financing shortfalls and other challenges we face. Our hope, however, is that we can move quickly toward a sensible restructuring of the instrument.”
