President Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela could meet all its obligations to bondholders, as he sought to quell market fears that the Socialist-run country may opt to default when $5 billion of its foreign debt falls due for repayment next month, Reuters reported. Fears of a possible default had heightened, with bond yields spiking, after the publication of an article by two pro-opposition economists that suggested an orderly default could ultimately help the slumping economy of a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

After a year in office, Nicolás Maduro has made little headway in correcting the economic distortions bequeathed by his Comandante. Since Hugo Chávez died in March last year, Venezuelans have suffered rapidly deteriorating economic conditions, from a yawning budget deficit to galloping inflation and widespread shortages of goods, from milk to toilet paper, the Financial Times reported. But the people have pushed back.

Funeral home director Carlos Bianchi's dilemma over how much to charge for his coffins goes a long way in illustrating the economic woes plaguing both Argentina and Venezuela, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Argentine government's currency devaluation last month, which helped spur a global selloff in emerging-market currencies, also sent prices soaring here. What confounds Mr. Bianchi's calculation is that he must use an unsteady and weakening currency, the peso, to buy imported parts for his wares.

A Venezuelan lender that bid more than €1 billion beat out three big Spanish rivals and three U.S.-based investment firms in an auction to buy a nationalized Spanish bank, the country's bank-bailout fund announced Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Banesco Grupo Financiero Internacional and its Spanish unit Banco Etcheverría SA offered to pay €1.003 billion ($1.38 billion) to buy NCG Banco SA, the largest bank in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia.

Venezuela devalued its currency against the dollar on Friday, a move made by the government of ailing President Hugo Chávez to ease deepening shortages, but is also expected to stoke inflation and further weaken the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bolívar—whose official name is the Strong Bolívar—was slashed by nearly a third of its value to 6.3 per dollar from a previous rate of 4.3 per dollar, Finance Minister Jorge Giordani told a news conference.

Venezuela could default on its debt as early as the second half of 2013 if President Hugo Chavez wins re-election next month and fails to shore up the oil- producing nation’s “increasingly fragile” balance sheet, Morgan Stanley said, Bloomberg reported. One “tipping point” could be the $4.3 billion in external debt payments that come due between August and November 2013, Morgan Stanley analyst Daniel Volberg wrote in a note to clients today.

OPEC member Venezuela sees no risk of debt default due to the stability of oil prices, an economic official said on Monday, amid some market fears the country faces a looming problem with maturing debt, Reuters reported. Despite growing international risk aversion, Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and the government have issued $15.2 billion of dollar-denominated bonds so far in 2011 -- by far the largest amount in Latin America. Analysts say the maturing of various papers between 2016-17 could be a problem.

Nearly eight years after Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was briefly forced from office by a coup attempt, deterioration in Venezuela's infrastructure and economy has continued. City centre shops are now subject to raids by soldiers, checking to make sure prices have not been artificially raised in the wake of this month's currency devaluation. The bolivar's official exchange rate, which is set by government decree, had been held at 2.45 to the US dollar since the last devaluation in March 2005.

Argentina will be forced to default by 2011 unless the government reaches an accord with investors holding $20 billion of bonds kept out of the last restructuring offer, Stone Harbor Investment Partners says. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is negotiating terms of an agreement, which the government needs to regain access to international capital markets that it lost after stopping payments on $95 billion of debt in 2001, Bloomberg reported.

President Hugo Chavez ordered the expropriation of a rice-processing plant in Venezuela owned by American food giant Cargill Inc. on Wednesday because the company allegedly was not distributing rice at prices imposed by the government, the Associated Press reported. The socialist leader also threatened to nationalize Venezuela's largest food producer, Empresas Polar, amid rising tension between his government and privately owned food producers that authorities accuse of sidestepping price controls aimed at stemming high inflation.