Risk perception for most of the world's countries have improved in the past year, according to a Standard Chartered analysis of credit default swaps (CDS), contrasting with deterioration in France, Italy, the United States and Germany, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. CDS are derivatives used by investors to hedge against a default or restructuring of debt. The higher the risk of default, the higher the CDS spread.

A former top official of Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht SA testified that he was asked in 2014 to bribe the then-head of Mexican state oil firm Petróleos Mexicanos, according to a document filed with Brazil’s Supreme Court as part of a broader corruption investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Massive anti-government protests in Venezuela that have left about 30 people dead couldn’t stem the biggest rally in two years for the country’s bonds, Bloomberg News reported. Despite food and medicine shortages, the government has reiterated its willingness to stay current on debt, and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA made good on a $2.2 billion bond payment last month. The implied probability of the country missing a payment in the next 12 months fell to 50 percent from 56 percent at the end of March, according to credit-default swaps data compiled by Bloomberg.

Brazilian phone company Oi SA said on Tuesday that Orascom TMT Holdings SAE, controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, and a group of bondholder have given the carrier until June 1 to put together a restructuring plan to help it exit bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. This is the fourth extension granted Oi by Orascom, which offered in December an exchange of debt for shares and a capital injection of as much as $1.25 billion in the phone company. Oi filed for bankruptcy protection in June last year under the burden of debts totaling 65 billion reais ($20.6 billion).

The Brazilian government will introduce legislation granting it the power to intervene when telecom operators under bankruptcy protection, the head of telecoms regulator Anatel said on Thursday. Juarez Quadros said the decision was meant to avoid any judicial questioning of future interventions, but did not say when the government planned to submit the legislation, Reuters reported. Since March, the government has promised to enact a decree to allow authorities to intervene in debt-laden OI SA .

Venezuela was once among the most lucrative markets in Latin America for foreign businesses, a country oozing in oil and blessed with an emerging middle class hungry for everything modern, from new cars to snug-fitting disposable diapers. But the good times are long gone, and on Thursday, General Motors became the latest in a wave of international companies that have shut their doors voluntarily or under duress, the International New York Times reported. In G.M.’s case, the Venezuelan authorities seized the company’s local vehicle assembly plant.

Declining borrowing costs in Brazil will help local companies cut their debt and speed up refinancing efforts with creditors, even if they fail to jump-start economic growth in the short run, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Wednesday. The central bank's rate-reduction cycle should have the immediate effect of alleviating the burden of companies struggling with large chunks of real-denominated debt, the report said. Brazilian companies pay the highest borrowing costs among the world's major economies, Reuters reported.

Argentinian President Mauricio Macri’s reform efforts have won approval from the world’s biggest emerging-market bond investor, Bloomberg News reported. Franklin Templeton Chief Investment Officer Michael Hasenstab boosted holdings in Argentina in the $40.4 billion Templeton Global Bond Fund that he runs to 4.5 percent in the first quarter. The investment has propelled the Latin American country to the sixth spot in the fund’s country holdings. Hasenstab was encouraged by reform efforts from Argentina’s new president, he said in a research note published in January.

Bonds issued by Venezuela’s state oil company rallied after the country made $2.2 billion in payments on notes that matured Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. The $1.1 billion of notes from Petroleos de Venezuela that come due in seven months gained 2.1 cents to 87.3 cents on the dollar as of 3:17 p.m. in New York. The payment, which was confirmed by Delaware Trust Company, strengthened investor confidence that the nation can avoid default for yet another year.

Venezuela has put off a reckoning on its tens of billions of dollars in debt, but its ability to avoid a disastrous default will probably require much higher oil prices than appear likely in the next year or two, financial experts say. With its oil production and international reserves falling at an accelerating rate, the government is juggling as fast as it can to pay for imported food and medicines while meeting its short-term bond payments, the International New York Times reported.