Venezuela 1998
In the first week of July 1998, the government of Venezuela did not pay the coupon on local currency bonds
that were held by local residents. The payments were made a week later. Since these bonds had no grace
period, this delay in payment amounted to a technical default.
The government claimed that the person who was supposed to sign the checks was unavailable at the time
but that the checks were later issued from the appropriate office. It was the type of episode that seems to have
happened more than once in Venezuela, where the government did not pay the coupon on local currency
bonds on time. However, the government has always claimed that there was no "intentional" delay.
After this default, Venezuela installed state-of-the-art payment machinery that reduced or eliminated the need
for human intervention in the payment processes.
Moody's subsequently changed the issuer ratings to Caa1 from B2 due to the fact that the government,
although fully capable of paying domestic coupons and principal, had shown unwillingness to pay its domestic
obligations from time to time.
https://www.moodys.com/sites/products/DefaultResearch/2007100000482445.pdf
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