Oil exports make up 95% of Venezuela’s dollar earnings, and production has been falling off in large part due to a lack of access to capital. “The reason they’ve paid is that they want to keep their hands on the one performing asset they have outside of the country,” said Graham Stock, emerging markets sovereign strategist at RBC Global Asset Management’s BlueBay Asset Management, which holds the bonds. The Venezuelan government deposited funds for the bond payment late last week, according to people familiar with the matter, directing $842 million for principal repayment and $107 million for interest. Officials at PdVSA and Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. With this week’s payment, the amount outstanding on the bonds, which had an original principal of $3.4 billion, drops to $1.7 billion. This gives investors confidence that the Citgo collateral is enough to cover the remaining balance, analysts […]